Remarks by David Quinn delivered at the Irish Lawyers Christian Fellowship, July 20, 2022. In his letter from Birmingham jail, Martin Luther King asked the question, “How does one determine whether a law is just or unjust?” He answered: “A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law or the...
Abortion will be “safe, legal and rare”, was the aspiration of the Government before the 2018 referendum to repeal the 8th amendment. The reality is that abortion in Ireland is far from rare and we now have reached 7,000 terminations per year. In January 2018, when announcing that the Cabinet had agreed to hold a...
More than 6,700 women had an abortion via their GP last year, new official figures indicate, but when the numbers from hospitals are included, plus the number still going to England and Wales, the figure easily exceeds 7,000. The total of 6,700 alone is the highest figure since the 2018 referendum that repealed the 8th amendment....
Ireland is currently before the UN Human Rights Committee in order to report on our compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). But the whole process is so deeply flawed, it cannot be taken seriously. For instance, the committee members in practice often know little about the many countries they have...
The Supreme Court of the United States has overturned Roe vs Wade, the 1973 ruling that a woman has an untrammelled right to abortion up to viability. Why did it do so? The simple answer is that the 1973 ruling had no real constitutional basis. The new ruling does not ban abortion. It simply gives...
Last year, 214,869 abortions took place in England and Wales, according to newly released statistics from the Department for Health show. It is the fifth consecutive year that the number has risen and it is both the highest number and the highest abortion rate since data have been collected. The number of terminations is the...
The Oireachtas Committee on Justice has invited submissions on the “Dying with Dignity Bill 2020”, presented by Deputy Gino Kenny. The deadline was midday today. The Bill aims at allowing euthanasia and assisted suicide when a person has an illness from which they are ‘likely to die’. A majority of TDs have already voted to move...
A Private Member’s Bill to permit assisted suicide under certain circumstances is soon to come before the Oireachtas. The experience of Belgium and the Netherlands shows how difficult it is to limit it once it is introduced. Rates have soared in both countries and the grounds have widened. Read more in our latest briefing note.
Our new briefing paper looks at the operation of Britain’s abortion law, including the prevalence and the grounds for abortion. Pro-choice groups in Ireland want us to adopt a UK-style abortion law at a minimum. In the UK, one in every five pregnancies ends in abortion. You can download the briefing note from here.
A report which sought to support greater availability of surrogacy across Europe has been rejected by a key committee of the Council of Europe. Following consideration of the report, ‘Human Rights and ethical issues related to Surrogacy’, the Council’s Social Affairs Committee struck down a draft resolution on the issue, meaning the Council’s opposition to...
