Last night’s result in Gibraltar’s abortion referendum was disappointing but not entirely surprising. The result was Yes: 62.03% and No: 36.62%. It means that abortion on demand will now be introduced in Gibraltar, like the law introduced in Ireland in 2019.
Until yesterday, the law in Gibraltar prohibited abortion but fully protected the lives of pregnant women and guaranteed that they received all necessary medical interventions throughout the nine months of pregnancy.
The push to introduce wide-ranging abortion came mainly from members of Gibraltar’s parliament, culminating in this week’s referendum.
One interesting feature of the campaign was how fair the media coverage was compared to say Ireland’s abortion referendum in 2018.
But just like happened in Ireland and elsewhere, the drip-drip impact of the “pro-choice” message that has permeated Western culture for several decades finally took its toll in Thursday’s vote in Gibraltar.
The pro-life movement in Gibraltar put in a tremendous effort in recent months and were much more active on the ground than their opponents. In the only official opinion poll on the referendum carried out in 2020, the Yes side were above 70%, meaning that the efforts of the No campaign cut the lead of the side that won yesterday by ten percentage points or thereabouts.
The members of the Gibraltar Pro Life Movement will of course be devastated by yesterday’s defeat but they are a phenomenal bunch of people who did the pro-life cause proud by the determination they showed and the professional way they ran their campaign. These are difficult times for the pro-life movement everywhere, but we are truly blessed to have so many committed volunteers in Ireland, Gibraltar and elsewhere who are prepared to overcome any setbacks and stay the course for as long as it takes to rebuild a culture that cherishes, protects and sees value and beauty in every human life, born and unborn.