Folk singer Dolores Keane’s passing earlier this week came as very sad news. The internationally acclaimed singer, best known for her stunning rendition of the song Caledonia, died peacefully at her home in Co Galway.

The rate of adverse events from the abortion pill has increased significantly in the US according to a new report from the highly reputable Ethics and Public Policy Centre.

Former Planned Parenthood director Annette Lancaster has spoken about the reasons behind her decision to leave the abortion industry.

Referring this week to the startling statistic that 133 boys are born for every 100 girls in China, Reggie Littlejohn, President of the human rights organisation Women’s Rights Without Frontiers, said: “Such a vast gender imbalance cannot be achieved naturally. It can only be achieved through the sex-selective abortion of baby girls – through gendercide.”

Last week, during their Spring General Meeting in Saint Patrick’s College, Maynooth, the Irish Catholic Bishops issued a statement in defence of life and offered their prayerful support for expectant mothers and their unborn children.

Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns misled the Dáil on Wednesday when she suggested to the Taoiseach that 240 Irish women travel to England each year for abortions when their babies were detected to have a life-limiting condition, when in fact a small minority of these women travelled for that reason over a five year period.

It is indefensible the way the latest Journal.ie “fact-check” has allowed Holly Cairns’ recent misleading remarks on abortion to slide. “Fact-checking” as a media function loses credibility if it appears to let people off the hook rather than hold them to account. For Journal.ie to conclude that the Social Democrats leader’s recent Dáil contribution did not amount to misleading remarks is a considerable stretch.

Kermit Gosnell, the Philadelphia-based abortion doctor convicted in 2013 of killing three babies born alive in a case that made national headlines in the US, has died at the age of 85.

Last weekend, the inaugural conference of Health Professionals for Life took place in Tralee. Consultant Obstetrician Trevor Hayes, Maria Steen, Dr. Elizabeth Cullen and Catherina O’Sullivan were among the list of guest speakers at the event attended by doctors, nurses, midwives and allied health professionals.