The right to life is a primary human right according to former Taoiseach, John Bruton. In a speech delivered at the Irish Catholic Doctors’ Learning Network Annual Conference in Swords, Co Dublin, last weekend, Mr Bruton said that the pro life case is that the right to life is the primary right, “because, without life, one simply cannot exercise any of the other rights. It flows from that that the primary responsibility, of the state, and of each of us as citizens, is to protect life.”
He also said the State by facilitating, and paying for, the taking of life, is abandoning one of its core functions which is to protect life.
Regarding conscientious objection, the former Taoiseach said “no person, medically qualified or otherwise, should be forced by the threat to his/her employment, or of criminal sanctions, to be involved in the ending of a human life, against his or her religious convictions.” He cited Article 44.2.1 of the Irish Constitution which, he said, “guarantees, subject to public order and morality, the ‘free…..practice of religion’”.
The Catholic Bishop of Elphin, Kevin Doran, has said the Abortion Bill has no moral force and if it becomes law must be resisted. “Catholics have no obligation whatsoever to obey this law,” he told the Irish Independent.
Bishop Doran said the fundamental presupposition is that citizens should always obey a just law. “But this is an unjust law and therefore it has no moral force,” he said.
Bishop Doran said resistance should not simply be theoretical: he cited the example of the Dunnes Stores workers’ boycott of South African goods and said the tradition of “constructive resistance” was well established. He said doctors, nurses and midwives who oppose abortion should unite. “They will have to stick together because if they don’t they’ll be picked off individually. But what we would be saying is that they as a substantial body [should] simply refuse to participate or to refer.”
He called on teachers, not just Catholic teachers in Catholic schools, “but people of integrity who believe absolutely that this is a human being” to reflect their beliefs in their teaching. “They can’t just roll over and say ‘we’ll teach that it’s just a cluster of cells’ or ‘this is OK because the law says it is OK’. You would be calling on teachers to be consistent with the truth in their teaching.” He also said people working in the pharmaceutical industry may not want to be involved in making drugs used in abortions. He said if such workers were to say they didn’t want to be involved in making drugs that are designed to kill, “now that takes courage”.
Women seeking abortion in January will be left in the lurch unless doctors ‘step up’ and start executing the procedure, Minister for Health Simon Harris has warned.
He said he acknowledged some medical professionals were raising issues of genuine concern. However, he said he wanted to hear “solutions” and then for “clinical leadership to prevail”.
His comments come after warnings from obstetricians that abortion would not be ready to roll out in hospitals at the start of January. The Minister is to meet doctors’ representative organisations today, where an outline of new clinical guidelines is expected to be considered. “I will be using this opportunity to ask the stakeholders to put their shoulder to the wheel and assist the HSE in providing this much needed service. I am eager to hear their concerns, not through the airwaves or the papers, but directly and I will not shirk from my responsibility in responding appropriately. But I also want to hear solutions.”
The Sunday Business Post reported yesterday that Dublin’s three maternity hospitals were unable to guarantee they would be in a position to carry out abortions from the beginning of January.
Mr Harris said on Sunday “without a start date, women will still travel and will still take illegal pills. Any delay will affect the 12 women a day who find themselves in crisis pregnancies and only have the internet or the plane as solutions.”
Leading obstetricians are seeking to delay the introduction of abortion in January “because of risks to patient safety due to inadequate preparation” for it. However, Dr Peter Boylan, who has been charged by Health Minister, Simon Harris, with implementation of abortion ‘services’ has said it will begin next month.
Writing in today’s Irish Times, former master of the Coombe Women and Infants University Hospital Prof Chris Fitzpatrick, who voted for repeal of the 8th in May, criticised the Government’s “frenzied attempt to meet a dangerously unrealistic deadline”.
He and other members of the Institute of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists have called for an EGM to debate a motion that abortion legislation “cannot” commence next month and “should not take place until these risks are addressed”. Obstetricians from Dublin and outside Dublin, and from large and small maternity units, had signed the motion and the signatures were collected “within a matter of hours”.
Dr Fitzpatrick said in The Irish Times: “We are on the verge of introducing a new termination of pregnancy service, which, if rushed into operation on January 1st as scheduled, will pose a serious threat to the health and wellbeing of women … compounded in addition by inadequate planning and insufficient resources,” Prof Fitzpatrick writes.
Prof Fitzpatrick stresses that he is not a conscientious objector to abortion. “I will participate in the provision of this service – but only when it is safe to do so. At present I am operating in an information vacuum.”
He says it is “frightening” that there are no agreed models of care, published clinical guidelines or clarifications on key ethical issues and clinical concerns with less than one month to go to the introduction of the service.
Unrelatedly, Minister for Health Simon Harris said claims from anti-abortion politicians that the legislation was being rushed through the Oireachtas were “offensive”.
“When I hear some opponents of the legislation suggesting that it is being rushed I actually think that’s really offensive to women in this country,” he said. “I think it’s offensive to people who’ve been working to arrive at this point for 35 years.”
In a prime example of freedom of religion, Brother Kevin Crowley of the Capuchin Day Centre in Dublin lambasted the Government’s response to the housing crisis while receiving an award in Leinster House for his own work helping the homeless and destitute of the city.
Speaking in the members’ restaurant after becoming the fourth recipient of the Oireachtas Human Dignity Award, Br Kevin said “It’s absolutely appalling to think in 2018 that the Government cannot face up to the fact that we have a crisis in our country. We have a crisis in our cities for the homeless people. We have a crisis for the children. We have a crisis for their families. These people should not be walking the streets .”
He questioned the State’s strategy in addressing the crisis. “Where are we? Where are our politicians? Where is the money going to? Recently, there was a hotel got, I think, €9 million for homeless people. How many houses could we have built for that? It is a crying shame.”
The award was given by the Oireachtas Human Dignity Group, whose founding member, Senator Rónán Mullen (Ind), said Br Crowley had “earned the respect of the Irish people”.
Ireland’s Catholic bishops have said they are “dismayed” that the voices of those who voted against repealing the eighth amendment have been ignored since last May’s referendum.
In a statement following their winter general meeting, the bishops said that amendments to the Abortion Bill that many would have deemed to be “very reasonable” had been rejected.
“We are dismayed that, for the most part, the voices of those who voted against abortion in May’s referendum have been ignored,” the bishops said.
“As we stated after our Autumn Meeting, Irish society must have respect for the right of conscientious objection for all healthcare professionals and pharmacists. They cannot be forced either to participate in abortion or to refer patients to others for abortion.”
The bishops said “every one of us has a right to life. It is not given to us by the Constitution of Ireland or by any law… The direct and intentional taking of human life at any stage is gravely wrong and can never be justified.”
The continued: “Women’s lives, and the lives of their unborn children, are precious, valued and always deserving of protection. Any law which suggests otherwise would have no moral force. In good conscience it cannot be supported and would have to be resisted.”
Legislation to provide for an extensive abortion regime for the first time in Ireland was passed by the Dáil following an extended debate.
The so-called Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy Bill was approved by 90 votes to 15 with 12 abstentions. The Bill will now go before the Seanad as the Government rushes to have it enacted in time for its planned introduction date in January.
A total of 65 amendments were tabled but only changes brought by the Minister for Health, Simon Harris, were passed. Fianna Fail refused to back any pro-life amendments.
Both Leo Varadkar and Simon Harris faced questions on what was described by People Before Profit TD Bríd Smith as a “cold war” between the Department of Health and the boards of the National Maternity Hospital and the St Vincent’s Healthcare Group over the planned hospital’s ethos and ownership. The plan to relocate the National Maternity Hospital at Holles Street in Dublin to the grounds of St Vincent’s hospital has been in the offing for the past 18 months but negotiations are still ongoing with the Minister for Health recently insisting that the board of directors should have an extra director to represent the public interest.
Mr Harris rejected claims by an anonymous hospital source that he was “meddling” in the issue and said the publicr should be concerned that the hospital has “robust governance” and that the State should have a seat at the table when the board was making decisions.
The Minister said the charitable status of St Vincent’s hospital also had to be sorted since “the nuns have said they are leaving” as well as public ownership.
Members of the European Parliament have expressed concern about proposed legislation in Bulgaria to control the operation of religious groups. On November 27, the MEPs said the proposed law “has the potential to significantly interfere with religious freedom in Bulgaria”.
The bill in question would significantly restrain the rights of minority faith groups, hampering theological schools, clergy training, missionary activity, free worship outside of designated buildings, and international funding of local ministries. A subsequent change to the bill raised the minimum membership requirement for registration of religious groups from 300 to 3,000 with the threat that denominations with fewer members could be shut down altogether.
The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) has also raised its voice against the proposed law.
A referendum to reduce the waiting period for divorce is to be held next year on the same day as the local and European elections on May 24th, the Government has decided.
At present, the Constitution only permits divorce where the spouses have lived apart for four of the previous five years. Now the Government proposes to either reduce the four year requirement to two or take it out of the constitution altogether.
A Government spokesman said on Tuesday that the question of which option would be decided over the coming weeks. It is intended to begin discussions with the other political parties and independents immediately.
