Over 25,000 pro-lifers gathered in Dublin this weekend for the All-Ireland Rally for Life, according to Life News, while Breitbart reports that pro-abortion counter-protestors attempted to crash the event with obscene chants and gestures.
Organized by Precious Life, Youth Defence, [sic] and the Life Institute, the rally is the country’s top annual pro-life event, akin to the United States’ March for Life. The Life Institute’s Niamh Uí Bhriain said, “and a lot of that focus will be on Election 2016 and on ensuring that politicians understand that the majority of people do not want abortion on demand legalised [sic] in Ireland.”
Another particular emphasis of this year’s event was “that Ireland should continue to protect the right to life of unborn children with disabilities,” according to Youth Defence’s Claire Molloy.
Among the pro-abortion incivility reported by Breitbart were chants including “Pro-life, that’s a lie, you don’t care if women die” and “Anti-women, anti-gay, pro-life bigots go away,” signs reading “F*** YOU! I’M PRO-CHOICE,” raised middle fingers, and even blowing a tin whistle in a pro-life woman’s ear.
Pro-aborts also hacked the Youth Defence website to display a pro-abortion message and tweeted that tolerating pro-lifers was “like calling for tolerance of the KKK or ISIS.”
Such behavior was “not a minority of the pro aborts,” said photographer Stephen McElligott, who covered the event. “These kind of insulting signs filled the sidewalk all the way down O’Connell Street.”
