An issue in the current abortion debate is the effect the proposed law will have on abortion rates of unborn babies with non-fatal abnormalities. Two things are worth noting. First, is that several very senior doctors seem to have no objection in principle to the law allowing abortion in such cases. The second is that...
The pro-life side had an excellent outing last night on RTE’s Claire Byrne Live. Maria Steen (pictured), the rest of the panel and every pro-life person in the audience was superb. Despite the bias of much of the media, despite Google banning all referendum ads (to the delight of the Yes side), last night hundreds...
Dr Jennifer Donnelly, an Obstetrician and Gynaecologist, has called for the repeal of the Eighth amendment to allow for abortions in case of ‘complex’ foetal abnormalities. On the face of it, this would appear to include abnormalities such as Down Syndrome that would not result in the inevitable death of the baby. Speaking at an...
By Dr Tom Finegan A group of English-based lawyers argue in a letter (Irish Times, 23/4) that the “health ground” under the U.K.’s 1967 Abortion Act sets a much lower threshold for legal abortion than that set by the health ground under the Irish Government’s General Scheme for abortion legislation. The group point out that...
By Dr John Murray Can a Catholic vote in favour of abortion? Some Catholics might believe the answer is yes, based on a balance of considerations. In fact, no Catholic with a proper understanding of what their Church teaches should vote in favour of abortion. This would be true of any law that permits the direct...
What kind of abortion law does Together for Yes really want? Or to put it another way, what do some of its leading members want? While Together for Yes wants repeal of the 8th amendment and supports the Government’s proposed abortion law as “workable and reasonable”, its leaders want to go even further than this....
Two prominent obstetricians have written to The Irish Independent to refute claims that the 8th amendment is endangering women. Doctor Michael F O’Hare is the chairman of the Joint Institute of Obstetricians & Gynaecologists/HSE Working Group on Maternal Mortality and says that “there is no evidence whatever of a higher risk of maternal mortality or severe...
How permissive will the Government’s proposed abortion law be compared with other Western European countries? The short answer is, as permissive. In most West European countries, it is very rare for a woman to be refused an abortion, and it will be very rare here also. It is very dishonest, therefore, for the Government to...
Pro-choice campaigners like to say that the public must be ‘protected’ against misinformation from the pro-life side. But they themselves are guilty of spreading misinformation, for example the claim that countries such as Ireland, which have restrictive abortion regimes, have rates of abortion higher than countries with liberal regimes. Last week, the Guttmacher Institute, a...
“Justice is the advantage of the stronger” said Thrasymachus to Socrates, who disagreed. In our own culture, tolerance is increasingly merely an intermediary strategy used by the strong who still lacks power in certain areas. Once such power is gained, tolerance, fairness and pluralism quickly cease to be virtues. In the face of such trends,...
