I’ve been reading some of the contributions made in the Dail so far as part of the debate on the abortion Bill. Several stand out for all the wrong reasons.

The worst I’ve come across so far is from Education Minister, Ruairi Quinn. He told the House, “this Bill, when enacted, will still not be compulsory”. “People who abhor abortion in any form whatsoever, will not be compelled to avail of its provisions”.

Doesn’t this rather depend on what is meant by “people”?  Certainly the Bill will affect pre-born people directly. They will be compelled by this law in the most final and absolute way possible.

Then we had Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams saying that his “strongly held view” was opposition to abortion, but he said he was “not here to legislate for me, especially not on this issue.”

However, no-one is asking him to legislate for himself. He is being asked by pro-life voters to protect pre-born children, to legislate for them.

Fianna Fail’s Barry Cowen told the Dail about a conversation he had with a priest. “I explained I felt compelled and torn by virtue of one’s obligation to adhere to the Supreme Court decision.

“That decision, whether we agree with it or not, or like it or not, obliges this House, and the members within it, to act on its instructions as legislators and provide legislation which reflects its interpretation of article 40.33 of our Constitution.”

Deputy Cowen seems to have missed the fact that in the final analysis he has to act according to his conscience and nothing else. If he thinks the decision of the Supreme Court is wrong, then he must vote against it. Otherwise, by his logic, he would have to vote in favour of each and every Supreme Court decision that comes his way no matter what unjust he believed it to be.

Finally, we had Labour Aodhan O’Riordain calling for the repeal of Article 40.3.3 altogether which protects the right to life of the unborn.

He said: “When people from other jurisdictions are told that our debate is about situations where a woman’s life is the risk, they are given to wonder whether this Republic is still in the dark ages.”

But abortion predates the dark ages. It was common in Roman times. So was infanticide. As Christians grew in influence, they moved to protect both pre-born children and new-born children. That was a huge advance for human rights by any standards.

Deputy O’Riordain, it seems, wants our morality to revert all the way back to the Roman Empire.