Pro-life campaigners are hoping that the turnout at their recent national conference will help buoy their message.

“At this crucial time for the abortion debate in Ireland, it is very encouraging to see so many people from all over Ireland coming to the RDS to hear more about how they can be involved in the campaign to defend the 8th Amendment,” said Cora Sherlock, deputy chair of the Pro Life Campaign, a ‘political organisation’ and registered business that reported a turnover in excess of €300,000 last year.

The conference also heard from keynote speaker and US congressman Chris Smith, who spoke of his own experience in helping to mobilise the pro-life movement in the United States.

He received a positive response from the conference when he compared laws legalising abortion in the US to the Berlin Wall in that they would soon be toppled. 

“It is vital to stay positive and keep fighting for the protection of every human life,” said Smith. 

Also speaking, Ade Stack highlighted the reasons behind Hugh’s House, a home-from-home for the families of seriously ill children that she set up in Dublin. And journalist Melanie McDonagh spoke on the importance of “freedom of speech” when it comes to discussing the pro-life position.

Other speakers include Prof William Binchy and Caroline Simons of the Pro Life Campaign, who claimed the provisions of the 8th Amendment were being “chipped away” by the “misleading arguments” of the pro-choice movement.