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Prayer, action kept abortoin out of Ireland

When a Planned Parenthood affiliate tried to bring legalized abortion to Northern Ireland, a petite, feisty mother of four led the counterattack and won.
Bernadette Smyth recounted her battle to keep abortion out of her country in Defend Life-sponsored talks January 19 and 20 at Mt. St. Mary's Seminary, Blessed Sacrament Church in Chevy Chase, Gonzaga High School and Oak Crest Village.

In her final talk, at St. Francis Xavier Church in Hunt Valley, speaking with a lilting Irish brogue, Mrs. Smyth displayed the passionate faith that caused her to enter the pro-life movement and then gave her the strength and grace needed for victory.

At first, she said, despite her piety, fighting against abortion was the farthest thing from her mind.

"In 1997 my life was very normal.  I was a daily communicant, active in every part of Church life.  I was a promoter of Jesus of Divine Mercy. 
"I had three children at the time, a full-time job, and I was moving up the ladder of management."

Then, attending a religious conference in Dublin, she inadvertently went to a talk by the Rev. Pat Mahoney of the Christian Coalition, not knowing that the American preacher was going to be talking about abortion.

"I had come to hear about Divine Mercy," said Bernie.  "I always had this feeling that the pro-life movement was kind of boring."

But while listening to Reverend Mahoney, she happened to pick up a leaflet that contained a picture of a "butchered child."  The impact of the picture was overwhelming.

-In it, she said, "I saw my children, Derek, Danielle and Paula.  I saw Jesus in the face of that child."

Reverend Mahoney warned his audience that the pro-life future of Ireland was in danger.

"Before I knew it," Bernie recalled, "I was on my feet, taking an oath to Almighty God to stop abortion from coming into Ireland."

In the independent Republic of Ireland, of which Dublin is the capital, abortion is constitutionally banned. 

But Bernie's own country, Northern Ireland, is part of the United Kingdom, which passed a law in 1967 making abortion up to 24 weeks legal in England, Scotland and Wales.

Northern Ireland had no specific law either allowing or prohibiting it, and in practice it was rare.

Back at home, she showed the picture of the aborted child to her husband Derek, who "was struck dumb" with horror.

Up to that time, said Bernie, "I had been so caught up in my religion; but my attitude had been, what can I get out of it?  Now God was asking me, 'What can you do for me?'"

She prayed to Jesus for guidance, going to a chapel for nine days, praying to the Divine Mercy and Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament and making the Stations of the Cross.

Finally, coming out of the chapel one day, "with great joy in my heart," she knew what she had to do:  "I told Derek I would have to give up my job so I could defend the babies."

Although abortions were rarely performed in Northern Ireland, referral agencies there sold women abortions and "shipped them onto planes, boats and trains to the death camps in England.  Babies were dying every day in the slaughterhouses."

Bernie wasn't quite sure how she could go about combating this evil.  But she gathered supporters, and together, she said, "We launched out in the streets of Belfast.  We didn't know how people would receive us, but we didn't care.
"We set up a picture board.  The people of Northern Ireland flocked up.  They were so open to our message!

"We coverd the whole length and breadth of Ireland.  We lobbied, contacted our politicians and our church leaders.  We increased our prayer, fasting, Eucharistic Adoration and saying of the Rosary."

Abortion referral services often operated out of private homes.  Bernie described how they learned of one in a home in a fancy, rich community.

"We leafleted the community," she said.  "These women had gone unchallenged for 28 years."

Because of the pro-lifers' exposure, the referral service was closed down.

But, she said, "There was a price to pay for that victory.  These people went to church on Sunday and were respected and high up in the community.

"We had to face a media onslaught.   We were accused of being violent fire bombers!"

But one by one, Bernie and her newly organized group, Precious Life, were able to close down other referral agencies.

"We lowered the referral of abortions from Ireland by 33 percent," she said.

In 2001, however, the Family Planning Association, an affiliate of the International Planned Parenthood Federation, brought a case for review before Northern Ireland's High Court, seeking "clarification" of the UK's 1967 abortion law, saying that it was unclear how the law applied to Northern Ireland.

]"What the FPA really wanted was to impose abortion-on-demand in Northern Ireland against the wishes of the vast majority of people," said Bernie.

Precious Life employed a legal team to oppose the FPA in court.  They also mounted a prayer crusade.

"We asked people to fast for three days in honor of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit," said Bernie.  "We knew people all over Ireland were doing it."

Finally, on July 7, 2003, Mr. Justice Brian Kerr ruled against the FPA.

He agreed with Precious Life that the law on abortion, as it stood, was clear, and, rejecting every one of FPA's arguments for issuing guidelines on abortion, dismissed their case.

When Bernie and her husband Derek came out of court after hearing the judge's ruling, over 200 supporters and media from all over the world were waiting.
The good news had filtered out ahead of them, said Bernie, and "a great cheer arose from the people."

Abortion is not legal in Northern Ireland, but the pro-abortionists continue to fight to legalize it.

In Northern Ireland, which is two-thirds Protestant and one-third Catholic, "The Protestants are leading the pro-life movement in the government; the Catholics are leading it out on the streets," said Bernie.

Ian Paisley, leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, Northern Ireland's hard-line Protestant party, "hates Catholics with a vengeance, but he loves the unborn," she said.

"He said he would walk the roads with Pope John Paul to protect the unborn.  So the pro-life movement is an ecumenical movement, in a sense."

To the pro-lifers in the United States, Bernie said, "We have met the fighters, the soldiers.  But God is asking you for more.  You have all the weapons:  you have Our Lady of Guadalupe, the Eucharist, the Rosary.

"I say to you, increase your prayers, increase your Masses.  Increase what you've done in 2003 in 2004.  Challenge your bishops and priests.

"If the Church slips by the wayside, you're the Church!"