Margaret Tighe, the most prominent figure in Australia’s pro-life movement, has died at the age of 94. Source: The Catholic Weekly.
Ms Tighe worked tirelessly in pro-life causes like abortion, IVF, euthanasia, and embryonic stem cell research for over 60 years. She and her late husband, Ron, were pharmacists, but she stepped back from her profession to care for her family and the pro-life cause.
She is survived by her four children and numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Bernie Finn, a former politician from Victoria, summed up her achievements in a Facebook post.
“Margaret Tighe was a champion for civil rights and a warrior for the defenceless, the aged, the weak and vulnerable. One headline best summed up Margaret by splashing across the page (above her photo), ‘If babies could vote, this woman would be Prime Minister’.”
The Chancellor of the Sydney Archdiocese, Monica Doumit, paid tribute to Ms Tighe.
“Her efforts in political advocacy, grassroots activism and personal witness paved the way for generations of pro-lifers after her. Right up until the end of her life, Margaret was a champion for the dignity of the human person.”
In an obituary, her organisation, Right to Life Australia, said that Ms Tighe was “a determined and indefatigable leader against all odds.”
Ms Tighe founded Right to Life Australia in 1978 to lobby for “providing protection to the vulnerable in all aspects of life”. In the early years she adopted civil disobedience tactics drawn from the United States.
In 1978, Ms Tighe and her supporters were hauled away by police after obstructing the entrance to the abortion clinic of Dr Bertram Wainer in East Melbourne.
As Right to Life Australia commented: “Her innate ability as a powerful strategist made her a fearsome adversary and she undeniably has been the most recognised leader of the pro-life movement in Australia’s history.”
The best-known of a new generation of pro-life campaigners, Dr Joanna Howe, praised Ms Tighe as a woman of great courage.
“She had to deal with so much abuse and hate. She’s called a foetus worshipper, a Catholic fanatic, you name it, all of the things that they throw at me and you,” she said on Facebook.
“I’m a baby in this fight, compared to Margaret Tighe, and we all stand on her shoulders.”
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Pro-life grande dame Margaret Tighe dies at 94 (By Michael Cook, The Catholic Weekly)
