There are fewer politicians who are pro-abortion now than there were at the start of the decade because of the work of Youth Defence, the organisation's PRO told an international conference of abortion activists in Dublin at the weekend.
Mr Justin Barrett told the conference that there was not an antiabortion activist abroad "who wouldn't like to swap places with Irish activists".
While there "will never an easier time to stop abortion in Ireland than there is to stop it today", he said, it would be foolish to think the situation with regard to abortion in the Republic was anything less than dreadful.
"That we are even discussing the possibility of legislation for abortion is a great crisis at the heart of the nation." Mr Barrett said the law was quicker to arrest "the people who defend the right of the unborn child" than it was to pursue those who performed illegal abortions. He said he did not like doing street protests but "they turn hearts and minds around on the issue of abortion".
After Mr Barrett's speech delegates at the conference in the Royal Dublin Hotel crossed the road to stage a picket at the Family Planning Centre in Cathal Brugha Street. More than a hundred protesters took part.
