A provision in law that married spouses cannot be compelled to testify against each other was described in the Dáil on Wednesday as an ‘anomaly’.
Fianna Fáil justice spokesman Jim O’Callaghan alleged that it is an anomaly that the same protection is not offered to people who are living with each other, particularly, he said, given how ‘modern Ireland exists’.
He suggested the disparity might be resolved by eliminating the provision for married spouses.
The provision stems from the special protection given to marriage in the Constitution, which has itself been criticised in the past by Leo Varadkar as ‘discriminatory’.
The issue came to prominence when a trial judge in 2012 allowed that the cohabiting girlfriends of two accused could not be compelled to give evidence. That decision was overturned by the Court of Appeal this month, though it said that the legislature could extend the non-compellability provision to civil partners and cohabitants if it so wished.
A French Court has asked for an advisory opinion from the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights on surrogacy law. The practice is illegal in France and the country even places restrictions on the practice of couples who engage in surrogacy arrangements in other countries and then bring a child back to France. Specifically, the country refuses to issue new birth certs naming the commissioning couple as the parents of a child born of surrogacy in a foreign country. That was appealed to the European Court of Human Rights and the Court ruled that the commissioning couple’s rights were not contravened. However, in respect of the children, the Court ruled that they should have their genetically related father registered as their father. Several reviews of the case followed in domestic French courts. Now, the French Court of Cassation has asked for an advisory opinion of the non-genetically related “commissioning mother.”
A bill in the US state of Virginia would allow abortion right up to the point of birth. In a legislative hearing earlier this week, the sponsor of the bill confirmed that an abortion could be requested even during labour.
The following day, the Democratic Governor of the State, who supports the legislation, said that a baby born alive could be left to die unless the mother requested that the child be resuscitated. Speaking on a local radio station about third trimester abortions, he said, “If a mother is in labour, I can tell you exactly what would happen,” he continued. “The infant would be delivered. The infant would be kept comfortable. The infant would be resuscitated if that’s what the mother and the family desired, and then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother.”
It is one of a number of Democrat-party-controlled States that are considering, or have already passed, legislation to make abortion easily available right up to the point of birth.
A woman is challenging the prohibition on abortion in Northern Ireland where the unborn child is suffering from a serious life-limiting condition. Sarah Ewart, from Belfast, claims the near-blanket ban violates her human rights.
Last year a majority of Supreme Court judges held that the North’s abortion laws breach the UK’s human rights obligations. But they still rejected the case mounted by the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission because it did not have the necessary legal standing.
Ms Ewart has now brought a challenge in her own name, as a woman directly affected by the current strict regime.
Pakistan’s top court has rejected a challenge to the acquittal of a Christian woman on blasphemy charges. The Supreme Court upheld its decision to overturn Asia Bibi’s conviction and death sentence.
She was originally convicted in 2010 after being accused of insulting the Prophet Muhammad in a row with her neighbours, and spent eight years on death row. She has always maintained her innocence in a case that has polarised Pakistan. The Supreme Court’s quashing of her sentence last October led to violent protests by religious hardliners who support strong blasphemy laws, while more liberal sections of society urged her release.
She is expected to leave Pakistan soon and receive political asylum in Canada.
A radical new sex curriculum should be imposed on all schools irrespective of their ethos, according to a report that was launched yesterday.
The Oireachtas education committee wants to see a radical overhaul of existing relationships and sexuality education to reflect a more ‘modern’ Ireland. This would include teaching children about abortion and gender ideology.
They recommend that changes be imposed on schools even where the values of the new curriculum flatly contradict the values of the school. The changes would also require the stripping away of legislative protections for Catholic, protestant and other religious schools.
The Irish Independent called it a ‘radical shake up of sex education’, while the Times Ireland edition carried a front page headline that said ‘Get faith out of sex education’. That headline was particularly ironic as the programme seems intent on the opposite, namely, ‘imposing radical gender theory on faith education’.
Committee chairperson, Fianna Fáil TD Fiona O’Loughlin however denied that there was a conflict between the approach of religious bodies and the committee. She said that the committee learned that some of the best sex education was in Catholic schools. Green Party TD and former teacher Catherine Martin said: “what we’re trying to achieve, is not a them versus us. This is about the children in our education system and this is about putting their well-being front and centre and at the heart of education and that’s really what needs to happen.”
The Government will hold a referendum in May to remove restrictions on divorce entirely from the Constitution. Currently, the Constitution allows divorce only after a couple have been separated for four years. The Government had considered amending this article to two years, but the Cabinet yesterday chose to remove the restriction entirely.
If passed, the referendum would empower the Dail and Seanad to set the waiting period for divorce. The Government has said it would like it set at two years, but the Oireachtas would be free to make it even shorter if it so wished.
Sex education that is filled with ideology can do immense harm to children, Pope Francis has warned.
Speaking on a flight from Panama on Monday, the Pope said that children should receive an education in sexual matters, but the content should be ‘objective’ and not full of political ideology, as that can ‘destroy the person’. He has previously condemned as ‘ideology’ the idea that gender is divorced from the body or that sexual identity can be constructed as a matter of personal choice, or theories that fail to recognise the sexual complementarity of male and female.
The Pope also said sex education should first be given in the home by parents, and then be supplemented by schools.
An overwhelming 97.5% of parents who carried to term a baby diagnosed in the womb with a fatal condition reported that they did not regret their decision.
That’s according to a recent article from the Journal of Clinical Ethics, entitled “‘I Would Do It All Over Again’: Cherishing Time and the Absence of Regret in Continuing a Pregnancy after a Life-Limiting Diagnosis.”
The authors of the study wrote: “Absence of regret was articulated in 97.5 percent of participants. Parents valued the baby as a part of their family and had opportunities to love, hold, meet, and cherish their child. Participants treasured the time together before and after the birth. Although emotionally difficult, parents articulated an empowering, transformative experience that lingers over time.”
Commenting on the research, Christopher Kaczor wrote that other studies have found similarly positive results, often surprising the researchers who conducted the studies.
A study from the Journal of Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology and Health found that after the birth, and at the time of the baby’s death, “parents expressed thankfulness that they were able to spend as much time with their baby as possible.”
Another study, in the Journal of Palliative Medicine, noted one “surprising finding”, namely, “that many couples felt that their baby’s birth was joyful, even if the baby was stillborn or died shortly after birth.” Moreover, no obvious pattern of parent characteristics, such as their religiosity, were associated with this response. In fact, “only 12 of the 30 parents spoke specifically about their religious faith as impacting their pregnancy experience and decisions directly.”
By contrast, says Kaczor, parents who chose abortion in those same circumstances do not show the same positive results. A meta-analysis appearing in the Journal of Obstetric, Gynecologic & Neonatal Nursing found that “Couples experienced selective termination as traumatic, regardless of the prenatal test revealing the fetal impairment or stage in pregnancy in which the termination occurred.”
Former Sinn Féin TD Peadar Tóibín has announced the name of his new political movement: Aontú.
Mr Toibin told The Irish Times “Aontú means unity and consent.” He continued: “We seek the unity of Irish people north and south and to build an Ireland for everyone – Protestant, Catholic and Dissenter in the tradition of the United Irishmen of 1798. We’ll seek to build an all-Ireland economy to mitigate the worst effects of Brexit, economic justice for all and to protect the right to life.”
Mr Tóibín has applied to register the political movement with electoral bodies in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
Some 1,400 people have signed up to join the new party, while more than 20 local Cumainn have been formed, with six of these in the north of Ireland.
Yesterday, he also welcomed another sitting councillor to his new party. Úna D’Arcy, a Westmeath councillor, relinquished her membership of Sinn Féin one week ago and confirmed yesterday that she was signing up for Mr Toibin’s new party.
