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Fascist Party Openly Campaigns as 'Abortion Never' to Keep 8th Amendment
Date: Tue, 2018-04-24 09:00
Seen any of these posters around recently? You may be interested to know 
they are a product of the 'Abortion Never' campaign, an initiative of the anti-immigrant, far-right National Party. The party is led by one Justin Barrett who is arguably best known for leading Youth Defence from the early nineties until 2004.
In the past he has attended several events hosted by the German NPD, a Neo-Nazi group, whose then deputy leader confirmed that the NPD was 'friendly' with Youth Defence. Italian fascist group 'Forza Nuovo' reported that Mr Barrett has also attended several of their events in the early 2000's.
Even after Mr Barrett's departure, Youth Defence still managed to grab the headlines though. In 2013, a Youth Defence billboard truck parked outside the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre carrying a billboard that read: "The abortion bill won't make women safer, it will just kill babies". The company who owned the truck refused to carry any more Youth Defence material after the wave of outrage that followed.
The ex-Youth Defence leader's re-emergence into public life as the President of the far-right National Party should be highlighted by pro-choice campaigners. There exists, both in Ireland and elsewhere, a close relationship between the wealthy 'pro-life' movement and local fascist organisations who co-operate in campaigns to extend the jurisdiction of the State into women's lives. These far-right and pro-life groups invariably also share anti-immigrant and Islamophobic viewpoints. Comically, the National Party is both pro-life and pro-death penalty. That is, they wish to give the Irish State total control over women's bodies and the power to execute people.
While the National Party tends to keep a low profile due to the inevitable anti-fascist attention that public far-right gatherings attract, pro-choice campaigners in all parts of Ireland should be advised of the origin of these posters and the nature of the fascist organisation that erected them. Such groups, however small, must be challenged at every opportunity and ultimately completely destroyed, as they are an enemy of both the interests and the organisations of the working class.
While the 'Abortion Never' campaign does their modest best, we in the pro-choice movement will continue to organise, leaflet & canvass for a Yes vote in the upcoming May 25th referendum which will hopefully take us one step closer to ensuring that people in Ireland have access to the healthcare we need.