Liam and Anne Mulligan are Irish parents not generally prone to political foray. However, in the recent abortion referendum campaign they felt compelled to do so motivated by their own experiences and that of their three children.
Mr and Mrs Mulligan told the Irish Times that their teenage daughter has Down Syndrome and that one of their sons died shortly after child birth.
Mr Mulligan stated that “we feel that the concept that a child is just a diagnosis and that they can be killed because of a diagnosis goes back to making a person a slave because their skin is black”.
In countries such as Britain, who’s abortion laws Ireland will be brought in line with, should the 8th Amendment be repealed, 90% of babies diagnosed with Down Syndrome are aborted. That rate is even higher in Scandinavian countries.
Mr Mulligan said that the talk of foetal abnormalities is dehumanizing to the unborn human being. Their son, Liam, was born with Trisomy 18 and lived outside the womb for over two months. His live was valuable.
Numerous parents have also come forward explaining how their healthy children were given no chance of life by doctors and only for the fact they refused to abort their child would not alive today.
The couple have said that all unborn children deserve the right to live based not on religion but on science and reason.