Carol Coulter, Legal Affairs Correspondent, describes what campaigns will be mounted outside the political parties
The biggest campaign for a Yes vote outside that waged by the Government and its parties will come from the Catholic bishops.
About a million copies of a popular version of their statement of December 12th, under the title "An Opportunity Not to Be Missed", will be distributed through dioceses and parishes in both English and Irish. This will highlight about seven points from the December statement.
There will be a referendum desk in the Catholic Communications Office, and statements on the referendum will be posted on the Catholic bishops' website, according to the bishops' spokesman, Father Martin Clarke.
On March 3rd, the Sunday before the referendum, a letter will be read from each bishop at all Masses in his diocese. The content of this has not yet been finalised, according to Father Clarke, and each bishop will have his own emphasis and strategy.
Yesterday communications off- icers from all the dioceses in the State were meeting in Maynooth to finalise plans for the campaign.
The Pro-Life Campaign, which started the whole thing with its proposal for a pro-life amendment to the Constitution in 1983, will conduct a leaflet and poster campaign in favour of the proposal. It has a budget of between €150,000 and €200,000 (£118,000 and £157,500), said its spokesman, Mr John Smith.
It can be expected that its leading figures, most of whom are familiar to the public from other campaigns, will also feature prominently in debates in the newspapers and on radio and television. They include academic lawyer Prof William Binchy, Dr Berry Kiely, and the doyen of anti-abortion campaigns, Sen Des Hanafin.
The Pro-Life Movement is a newcomer to the scene and it, too, will be campaigning for a Yes vote. It is an off-shoot of a group called Family and Life, which came into existence about the time of the divorce referendum, and is led by Mr Peter Scully. Some of those involved in the No Divorce Campaign, which brought us posters like the controversial "Hello Divorce, goodbye Daddy" one, are now in the Pro-Life Movement, and we can expect similarly dramatic marketing tactics to be unveiled during this campaign, building up to a climax in the last week, according to a spokesman. Marketing will be based on the biggest focus group study carried out in the State, he said.
They will send leaflets to every house, and will have door-to-door canvassers seeking a Yes vote. The spokesman declined to say what their budget would be. Among their public speakers will be UCD philosopher Dr Gerard Casey.
The "pro-life" camps are divided, and some of the erstwhile colleagues of the Pro-Life Movement are campaigning for a No vote under the banners of Youth Defence and the Mother and Child Campaign. Already their posters are up, calling on people not to be deceived, saying that this referendum is not "pro-life", and asking people to vote No.
Their spokesman, Mr Justin Barrett, said they had printed 750,000 leaflets, of which they had circulated one-third. In addition to material being circulated in their names, they will be circulating leaflets in the name of the Pro-Life Alliance - a network of groups which opposes the amendment from a "pro-life" standpoint - without necessarily associating with Youth Defence or the Mother and Child Campaign.
The Pro-Life Alliance will launch its campaign tomorrow. This alliance includes the Mother and Child Campaign and Youth Defence as well as Ireland for Life, founded by Ms Mary Thornton, who was a prominent member of the Pro-Life Campaign in Galway. She said a number of local groups were involved in this campaign.
Including the material from the Pro-Life Alliance, Ireland for Life and its allies will have about a million leaflets, she said. Two have been published, and a third is in preparation. They will also be seeking access to the media and the airwaves, she said.
Asked about their budget, she said they did not have one, but hoped support would come in. "This is so important we can't be handicapped by lack of funding," she said. "We're going to do it anyway."
MEP Ms Dana Rosemary Scallon will be calling for a No vote, primarily through the media, and will not personally be associated with leaflets or posters. However, those associated with her electoral campaign are likely to be involved in the No campaign.
The Alliance for a No Vote will be opposing the referendum from a different perspective. Made up of groups which range from those who oppose the abolition of the suicide ground for abortion to those who favour wider availability of abortion in Ireland, it opposes the referendum on five grounds.
Among the organisations supporting the ANV are the Irish Family Planning Association and the Well Woman Centre, the National Women's Council, Cherish, Women's Aid and various community-based women's groups. However, the ANV itself has limited resources, according to spokesman Mr Brendan Young, and is operating in an ad-hoc manner on a shoestring budget.
Individual organisations supporting it will, however, be campaigning for a No vote. The main one is the Irish Family Planning Association, which is spending €40,000 on its campaign. This will include a nationwide billboard campaign focusing on the risk to women involved in rolling back the X case, according to its chief executive, Mr Tony O'Brien.
The IFPA will distribute leaflets and communicate directly with its clients who, according to Mr O'Brien, run to hundreds of thousands. It will also be intervening in media debates.
The National Women's Council will run its own campaign for a No vote, following a rare unanimous decision to oppose the proposals, said its chairwoman, Ms Gráinne Healy. Further alliances and individuals are likely to set out their stalls in the coming days.
• The full text of the Protection of Human Life in Pregnancy Bill is available on The Irish Times website at: www.ireland.com/newspaper/special/