Cinema Commercials

As part of F&L's ongoing work to persuade women with unwanted pregnancies not to kill the child they are carrying, F&L commissioned the making of a 30 second film (Life is Precious) for broadcast in cinemas throughout Ireland. In its first showing, it reached over 200,000 people per week. This is the first and only pro-life commercial in Ireland, and is specifically aimed at young people. To date, Family & Life has made and shown three different advertisments in cinemas reaching over a million people with a message to protect human life in the womb.

Beer Mat Advertising

Throughout the year, Family & Life places pregnancy assistance and other facts of human development information on beer mats in pubs. The beer-mat provides useful contact information and revolves around a question and answer format which attempts to persuade individuals to discuss the value of life while also directing readers to the Family & Life website.

Educate for Life

Every week our staff and volunteers visit schools around Ireland delivering a multi-media presentation on the development of human life followed by a discussion. This project helps students to understand the development of the unborn child and also to instil a sense of respect for life at its most vulnerable stages. The format then develops into a one-to-one Q&A session with students. At the end of the discussion Family & Life distribute free materials to the students.

Annual 'National Novena For Life'

Life Day is a response to Pope John Paul II’s request in his encyclical Evangelium Vitae: “I propose that a Day of Life be celebrated every year in every country. The celebration of this day should be planned and carried out with the active participation of all sectors of the local Church. Its primary purpose should be to foster in individual consciences, in families, in the Church and in civil society a recognition of the meaning and value of human life at every stage and in every condition. 

Particular attention should be drawn to the seriousness of abortion and euthanasia, without neglecting other aspects of life which from time to time deserve to be given careful consideration, as occasion and circumstances demand” (E.V. 85). 

For the past eight years Family & Life has played a prominent role in promoting this important day by organising Ireland's National Novena for Life and distributing this novena and other materials to every parish in Ireland.  Upwards of 200,000 Novenas are distributed each year, and in each of those eight years the number of abortions has fallen.

St Patrick Fund

For nearly 13 years Family & Life has organised an annual fund to help children and teenagers in dire poverty. This Fund was established in response to reports from Thailand of teenagers enslaved by the prostitution industry some of whom were forced to undergo abortions.

Today the fund continues to provide financial assistance to children born into conditions of extreme poverty with a particular emphasis on rescuing children from the streets of Thailand and the Philippines.

Assistance has also been provided to purchase important child vaccines in Central America; to support children at a school in Bethlehem; to fund a pregnancy counselling service in Russia and to provide materials for seminarians in Africa.

Family & Life’s annual fund has provided for additional housing, a school extension, computer equipment, medical supplies and educational resources and support. Many children have been spared a life of extreme poverty and sexual exploitation and abuse as a result of the generosity of Family & Life supporters. Family & Life is committed to continuing and expanding this important project.

Friends of Human Life Poland

Friends of Human Life in Poland is Family & Life's sister organisation  Family & Life has a long association with Poland. We fund counselling centres in Poland and Russia which assist pregnant women who find themselves in financial difficulty. We also help produce educational materials for Polish schools.  In 2006 Senator Antoni Szymanksi, the chairman of the Polish Senate’s Committee on Family and Social Policy, presented Family & Life's director David Manly with the Medal of the Polish Senate in recognition of the achievements of the pro-life movement in Ireland over the past 25 years.

Pregnancy Advice Helpline

Family & Life provides help and assistance to women who call their helpline seeking advice and assistance. In many cases, women can’t afford the cost of baby equipment and lodging and so contemplate abortion. Our staff direct problems to the appropriate agency and in cases of poverty provided finance to assist the woman during her pregnancy.

Medical Models for Schools

Every year Family & Life sends set of medically-accurate foetal models to 250 schools. The object of this project is to develop a better understanding of the development of the unborn child among senior students and also to instil a sense of respect for life at its most vulnerable stages.

Documentaries

Family & Life has produced a number of film documentaries. These documentaries cover a range of life-related issues from stem cell research to abortion. They also outline the help available to women in difficulty. The aim of these documentaries is to provide individuals with reasoned arguments as to why we should support a Culture of Life. These documentaries are hugely successful, over 70,000 have been given away freely for use in parish, school and home and they are repeatedly broadcast on satellite, through the EWTN network.

Toilet Advertising

Similar to the Beer Mat advertising project, this campaign target venues and events and brings life affirming messages to new a novel places.  The advantage of toilet advertising is that it is one area where people spend time looking and reading advertisments.

Campaign for Ethical Vaccines

The Irish government’s Measles, Mumps and Rubella vaccine, otherwise known as the MMR three-in-one, was developed from the cell line of aborted babies.  Family & Life's campaign is aimed at making more people aware of this fact and trying to pursuade the Irish Government to provide an ethical alternative for parents and children.  Such ethical alternatives are available elsewhere and until they are made available in Ireland the goal of increasing vaccination against these three diseases is severely hampered. This campaign involves communicating with health authorities, pharmasecutical companies as well as the production of a highly informative leaflet which is distributed on an ongoing basis throughout Ireland.