Left-liberalism seeks to present the Irish position on abortion as obscurantist for reasons relating to blind obedience to the Catholic Church. But this fails fundamentally to understand either religion or abhorrence of abortion. Catholics are people who understand reality in a particular way, not people who have been given a list of things they must believe in.

The Catholic position on abortion arises from a moral perspective centred on the dignity of the human person. Catholicism is the expression of this perspective, not its motivation. A majority of Irish people continues to hold to a principled opposition to abortion, and would almost certainly do so even if the Catholic Church withdrew its objections, which is unlikely….