Oscar winner Cillian Murphy is drawing backlash from pro-life groups in Ireland for recent comments he made comparing a once pro-life Ireland to the “Dark Ages.”
Murphy, an Irish actor and frequent collaborator with director Christopher Nolan, most recently starred as the scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer in Nolan’s latest movie, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor. His newest film, “Small Things Like These,” will be released later this year, and involves the controversial Magdalene Laundries, where so-called “fallen women” would be forced to live and work without payment.
In an interview with the Irish Times, Murphy spoke about Ireland in the 1980s, when the Magdalene Laundries still existed. Murphy not only stars in the film, but is also a producer, and said the subject matter appealed to him. “There’s work out there, but it’s not always the sort of work that you want to do,” he said, and then moved on to talk about what he felt Ireland was like in the 1980s.
“Let’s put it into perspective,” he said. “It’s 1984 going into 1985. In 1984 you had the Kerry babies. In 1985 you had the moving statues. No abortion. No divorce. I think you were just able to get condoms, maybe by prescription. But it’s like the f**king dark ages compared to now. The film deliberately is trying to blur the lines. When you look at it, it could be the 1950s in many ways.”
The Irish Pro Life Campaign quickly responded with a statement slamming Murphy for his comments.
Irish actor Cillian Murphy has said that Ireland with “no abortion” was “like the f**king dark ages compared to now.” He made his remarks in an interview printed in last Saturday’s Irish Times.
Given how utterly predictable some sections of the media have become, the Oscar… pic.twitter.com/N9oMwFz87b
— Pro Life Campaign Ireland (@prolifecampaign) November 3, 2024
“Given how utterly predictable some sections of the media have become, the Oscar winner was never in any danger of receiving the slightest pushback or questioning from journalists for his throwaway comments. Instead, remarks like the ones he made are treated with the utmost reverence and respect, akin to the incurious and unquestioning period in our history that they rail against so hard. The absurdity of all this appears to be completely lost on them,” the group wrote on X. It continued:
When Murphy links the time when no abortions happened in Ireland to the dark ages, presumably he regards the new abortion regime here as a model of enlightenment and compassion.
One wonders what he thinks of the 2020 study from his hometown, conducted by UCC researchers (published in the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology) which revealed that under the new abortion law unborn babies have survived late-term abortions and have been left to die alone unaided?
Or does it concern him that a recent article published in the Journal of Medical Ethics states that there is now compelling evidence that unborn babies may have the capacity to feel pain as early as 12 weeks gestation, with a large body of evidence indicating for years that unborn babies can feel pain from 20 weeks or earlier.
If someone is prepared to tie no abortion in Ireland to the dark ages, they should be prepared to answer straightforward questions like the ones above.
And if journalism in Ireland had any integrity or interest in truth telling, people like Cillian Murphy would be asked some pressing follow-on questions when they make outlandish claims.
READ: Abortion on the ballot: Where voters protected preborn children, and where they didn’t
Murphy is not an unbiased commentator; he is a long-time abortion activist, participating in pro-abortion marches and encouraging men to vote for the Irish referendum that legalized abortion in 2018.
The number of abortions committed in Ireland after its legalization quickly skyrocketed beyond what had been predicted; according to the Department of Health in Ireland, 8,156 abortions were committed in 2022 and 6,700 abortions were committed in 2021, making for a 22% jump in just one year. Comparatively, before legalization, there were just 15 abortions committed in 2017, and 25 in 2016.
