IRELAND

Youth Defence victory

DUBLIN – Youth Defence, one of the Republic of Ireland’s leading pro-life groups, scored a partial victory in July with the overturning of convictions against six of its members. The six were charged with obstructing police and disturbing public order for their role in a May, 1998 picket outside a Dublin hospital that offers abortion counselling. The six Youth Defence members had their convictions dismissed, although they are subject to certain probation conditions. The protest two years ago resulted in a skirmish when police moved in to arrest pro-life demonstrators. There is some discrepancy between police and Youth Defence accounts of the incident. Police claimed that pro-lifers obstructed their efforts, while Youth Defence says the police acted with excessive force.

MEXICO

Abortion for rape outlawed

MEXICO CITY – The ruling National Action Party in Mexico’s northern state of Guanajuato passed legislation recently making the state’s laws on abortion more pro-life. Catholic World News reports that the legislature passed a law protecting unborn babies conceived during rape from abortion. While abortion is illegal in most of Mexico’s 31 states, there are exceptions in cases of rape or when the life of the mother is said to be in danger. The new ban will automatically go into effect on October 1. “As legislators, we have to consider not only the damage and pain of a woman who has been raped, but the greater evil that would occur with the death of an innocent minor,” the legislators said in a statement explaining their vote.