The Pro Life Campaign Regional Conference held earlier today in Galway brought together 150 pro-life supporters from across the West of Ireland.

Speakers raised Ireland’s “soaring abortion rate” and called on the Government to “stop promoting abortion and start prioritising alternatives.” The issue of coercive abortion was also raised by a number of speakers. It follows a series of recent court cases where men were charged with coercing their partners to ingest abortion pills against their will.

Addressing attendees in the Clybaun Hotel, Pro Life Campaign Legal Consultant Caroline Simons said: “The alarming rise in forced abortion cases calls for an urgent and comprehensive government response to examine coercive abortion in Ireland, determine its scale, and identify measures to help bring an end to this violence against women and their unborn babies. We are still in the first quarter of 2026, and already two men have been handed lengthy prison sentences linked to forced abortion.”

Pro Life Campaign CEO, Eilís Mulroy said: “The story of the new abortion regime is about lives lost and women hurt. One one can deny the massive increase in abortions that has taken place since the law changed. And there is another story that’s not receiving the attention it deserves – the number of women who regret their abortions and contact organisations like ours searching for information on where they can look for healing and support. Then there is the issue of coercive abortion that is becoming increasingly prevalent. It raises the question: where are groups like the National Women’s Council when it comes to voicing concern about coercive abortion and the impact abortion is having on some women? We know these groups don’t regard unborn babies, but what about women? Shouldn’t the National Women’s Council be asked to explain their silence?

Gavin Boyne, a young pro-life activist who says he owes his life to the Eighth Amendment said: “Nearly 11,000 abortions a year in Ireland should shake people to their core. Right now the government is doing nothing to prioritise positive alternatives to abortion. For the sake of mothers and their unborn babies, we have to stay the course and challenge the government’s de facto policy where all roads lead to abortion. I have friends who voted Yes for abortion in 2018 and now regret their decision. As more and more people realise what is happening under Ireland’s abortion law, more people will start to side with the pro-life position. That’s something I firmly believe will happen.”

Anna Buday, mother of Esther who has Down Syndrome and advocate for parents caring for children with complex medical needs, told the assembled crowd: “Esther may never speak the way others do. She may never live independently. She may never fit the world’s definition of success. But she is loved. She is wanted. She is valued. She is life. And that is enough. Pro-life is not about being anti-something. It is about being radical for someone – for the unseen, the vulnerable, the disabled, the sick, the unborn, the born, the forgotten, the carers, the families, and the siblings. Because the measure of a society is not how it treats the strong – it is how it protects the weakest.”

Former senator Dr Fidelma Healy Eames joined the conference via social media from abroad and spoke about the need to promote contemporary models of adoption that better reflect its positive aspects, which are often overlooked in public debate. Luke Power, a young pro-life supporter, introduced to the conference some of the initiatives and programmes geared towards younger members of the movement that are proving very successful.