After facing outrage due to an Amnesty International ad calling for the “repeal of the eighth” amendment to expand abortion rights in Ireland, actor Liam Neeson has stepped down as president of his childhood boxing club.
Locals and Catholic groups were angered by Neeson lending his voice to the film that some called “shockingly offensive,” according to Yahoo Movies UK.
The short film titled “Chains” features black-and-white images of graves and ruins as Neeson narrates to eerie music, “A ghost haunts Ireland…” The actor goes on to call the law which recognizes “the equal right to life” of the “unborn” and the mother a “ghost of paper and ink” that “lives in a constitution written for a different time.”
He narrates:
"A ghost haunts Ireland. A cruel ghost of the last century still bound to the land. It blindly brings suffering, even death, to the women whose lives it touches. Feared by politicians, this is a ghost of paper and ink. A spirit that lives in a constitution written for a different time. It is the shadow of the country we'd hoped we’d left behind. Ireland doesn't have to be chained to its past. It's time to lay this ghost to rest."
Neeson had trained with the Catholic church associated All Saints Amateur Boxing club in his hometown, Ballymena, in Northern Ireland, since he was 9-years-old.
Irish writer and director Graham Linehan created the film launched in Belfast on October 19, 2015. In response to Neeson’s resignation, Linehan offered his support, tweeting, “Liam had the guts to take a stand for Irish women and here’s the fallout. Still stand by every word I wrote for him.”
Currently, abortion is illegal in Ireland except in cases where the woman’s health or life is at risk.
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