Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has told his Irish counterpart that abortion in Ireland should be a “human right”. Mr Vardakar had briefed Mr Trudeau on his plans to hold a referendum to repeal the Eighth amendment which, he said, “I know is an important issue for a lot of campaigners for women’s rights in Canada”.
Asked whether he had any advice for the Taoiseach, Mr Trudeau said, “On the issue of reproductive rights, I shared our perspective that reproductive rights for women are integral to women’s rights in general and women’s rights are human rights and I encouraged him to look at it as a question of fundamental rights for women and we had a good discussion on that”.
Canada has one of the laxest abortion regimes in the world, with women able to terminate their pregnancies at any stage up to birth. Yet it has been suggested by Repeal the Eighth campaigners as a model of abortion law that Ireland might adopt should it delete its constitutional protection for the unborn.
Criticsm of Mr Trudeau’s intervention, and Mr Varadkar’s failure to challenge the Canadians on their own abortion record came quick and fast. Popular Jesuit priest, Father James Martin, commented, “So much for the human rights of the child”, in a tweet that was shared over 250 times and received almost a thousand likes. Ruth Cullen of the Pro-Life Campaign asked “If Prime Minister Trudeau was so anxious to challenge Ireland’s pro-life constitution, why did the Taoiseach in turn remain silent about Canada’s ‘truly barbaric’ abortion law?” Freelance journalist and broadcaster, Wendy Grace asked of Mr Varadkar, “Why wasn’t he the one challenging Trudeau about abortion? Where was his outrage about what Canada does to pre-born children who are not wanted? What about the 491 Canadian children from 2000 to 2009 who survived botched abortion procedures and so were ignored by hospital staff and simply left to die?” Regarding Ireland’s pro-life constitution, she added “Where was his defence of Ireland’s law, of how the Irish people and not some parliamentary elite voted in 1983 to protect both unborn children and their mothers?”
Criticsm of Mr Trudeau’s intervention, and Mr Varadkar’s failure to challenge the Canadians on their own abortion record came quick and fast. Popular Jesuit priest, Father James Martin, commented, “So much for the human rights of the child”, in a tweet that was shared over 250 times and received almost a thousand likes. Ruth Cullen of the Pro-Life Campaign asked “If Prime Minister Trudeau was so anxious to challenge Ireland’s pro-life constitution, why did the Taoiseach in turn remain silent about Canada’s ‘truly barbaric’ abortion law?” Freelance journalist and broadcaster, Wendy Grace asked of Mr Varadkar, “Why wasn’t he the one challenging Trudeau about abortion? Where was his outrage about what Canada does to pre-born children who are not wanted? What about the 491 Canadian children from 2000 to 2009 who survived botched abortion procedures and so were ignored by hospital staff and simply left to die?” Regarding Ireland’s pro-life constitution, she added “Where was his defence of Ireland’s law, of how the Irish people and not some parliamentary elite voted in 1983 to protect both unborn children and their mothers?”
