A referendum to establish a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage in Romania has failed – after only a fifth of voters turned out to vote. Romanians were being asked whether they wanted the constitution changed to specify that marriage can only be between a man and a woman.
But just 20.4% of eligible voters cast ballots – short of the 30% needed. The vast majority of those who voted, voted in favour of the referendum.
Mihai Gheorghiu, president of the pro-referendum Coalition for Family, told the BBC ahead of the vote they were trying “to protect, at a constitutional level, the definition of marriage – between one woman and one man”.
But after two days of voting, it seems the No campaign’s strategy – to boycott the vote in the hope the turnout fell below the 30% needed to validate the referendum – was successful. The low turnout comes despite the support of the powerful Orthodox church, and the unusual step by the government of extending the vote to two days instead of one. The constitution will retain its current, neutral wording – that a family “is founded on the freely consented marriage of the spouses”.
Verona’s town council voted to declare the northern Italian city officially “pro-life”.
Councillors approved a motion that calls itself “an initiative to prevent abortion and promote motherhood”. It demands public funding for anti-abortion groups and calls for the council to promote a regional project that encourages pregnant women to place unplanned babies for adoption rather than opt to end their lives.
Despite the fact that abortion is legal everywhere in Italy, and amid protests from feminist groups, the motion was passed by 21 votes to six.
Ireland has been found to have the second-highest rate of surrogacy use, according to a survey involving 90 countries. Surrogacy is banned in countries like Germany, Austria, Italy and Sweden because it is thought to exploit poorer women and commodify children.
The survey, carried out last year by Families Through Surrogacy (FTS), claims Ireland is second only to Israel in the rate of use of surrogacy. Families Through Surrogacy based its finding on the answers given by 30 agencies in nine countries dealing with clients from 90 nations. It found that 68% of surrogacies carried out for Irish couples took place in Ukraine.
Sam Everingham, a director of the Australia-based FTS, believes the proposal to ban commercial surrogacy in Ireland would be a mistake and would drive couples to break the law. “Learning from countries like Australia, where three states have banned overseas surrogacy, shows such policies fail,” he said.
“Despite such policies in Australian states, that country remains the second largest user of cross-border surrogacy globally.”
A drug trial in Mayo may fall apart as the man charged with the crime is legally recognised by the State as a woman.
The defendant who was born a man was named as ‘Patrick’ on the arrest warrant, even though the person had at the time obtained a gender recognition certificate that legally changed his gender to ‘female’ and his name to ‘Fiona’. The State returned to Castlebar District Court on Wednesday to change the name on the summons.
Nicola Daly, solicitor for the defendant, objected to the application made by the state, contending the person named on the summons no longer existed. The defendant had legally changed her name by deed poll and obtained a gender recognition certificate in June 2016, well before the arrest and subsequent charge for a drugs offence. Daly said that any attempt to amend the summons would compromise the defendant’s constitutional and human rights under the Gender Recognition Act.
Joe McKenna, a superintendent at Castlebar Garda station, said the state would continue to argue that the defendant was the same person and should be tried as such, regardless of the incorrect name filed on the summons.
The judge adjourned the matter to a November 21 sitting of Castlebar District Court, where evidence will be heard from Gardai of what details were provided by the transgender person at the time of the arrest.
The addition of Brett Kavanaugh to the US Supreme Court may result in the very permissive abortion regime that was introduced by the Roe V Wade ruling in 1973 being curbed by the Court, according to an article in the New York Times.
The piece listed three ways the court could intervene to change the law and restrict abortion. The most likely and least far-reaching would be to allow Roe v Wade to stand but also allow individual states to provide some protections to the unborn child. The next possibility would be to overturn Roe v Wade and thereby revert back to the situation prior to 1973, when each state had its own unique law (unless that state law has been updated since). A third possibility, the least likely and what would be the most disruptive would be for the Court to declare unborn human life to have rights that thereby restrict or would outright prohibit abortion.
Pro-life groups have vehemently protested the abortion legislation introduced to the Oireachtas yesterday.
Commenting outside the Dáil, Eilís Mulroy of the Pro Life Campaign said: “The Government has painted a very benign and sanitised picture of what’s contained in its abortion bill. The reality however is chillingly different. The bill being introduced to the Oireachtas today is by far and away the most unjust and inhumane bill ever to come before the Dáil.
“Regardless of how many times Minister Harris suggests otherwise, his bill has nothing whatsoever to do with genuine healthcare. The bill defines abortion as a ‘medical procedure intended to end the life of a foetus.’ The intent here could not be clearer.”
Ms Mulroy continued: “The public voted to repeal the Eighth Amendment, they did not vote in favour of the extreme and inhumane proposal that the Government is now putting forward – legislation that doesn’t even provide pain relief for unborn babies during late term abortions and that compels doctors to abandon their medical training to protect life and instead facilitate abortions or run the risk of being struck of the medical register.
“Minister Harris will be showered with praise in the coming days from the usual quarters about how ‘compassionate’ and ‘liberating’ his abortion bill is. But away from all the applause and acclaim the truth will emerge about the truly barbaric nature of the new law. Granted it will take time, but the truth will come out. As a movement, I can assure the minister we will not rest until it does.”
Parents will have to opt their children into religious instruction in State secondary schools under new directions to be issued shortly. As schools will be required to ensure students who do not take religious instruction are provided with another subject on the timetable, this means in effect that students who choose religious instruction must opt-out of regular, timetabled classes.
The Irish Times has learned that a new Department of Education circular will clarify requirements aimed at giving greater rights to non-religious and minority faith students in about half of secondary schools. Under the new rule, there will be an automatic assumption that children are not taking religious instruction, unless parents have requested admission to the class. The changes will affect about 160,000 secondary school students, or almost half the entire secondary school population.
The provision against blasphemy in the Irish Constitution is “largely obsolete”, the Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference has said after its Autumn meeting.
The Bishops said the reference to blasphemy in the Constitution may give rise to concern “because of the way such measures have been used to justify violence and oppression against minorities in other parts of the world”.
The Conference, however, underlined that the promotion of religious freedom and freedom of conscience “greatly increases the social fabric of a country.” They added that the right of religious communities to contribute to public debate without been attacked or ridiculed “needs to be acknowledged and respected”.
“Bishops stressed that it is vital to ensure that the rights of individuals and communities to practice and live out their faith openly are protected by our law,” a statement from the Conference read.
“In this context bishops, once again, expressed their solidarity with Christians and all those throughout the world who are currently experiencing persecution, and human rights abuses, because of their faith or beliefs.”
Dr Peter Boylan has been appointed by the HSE to help prepare for the introduction of abortion in Ireland.
Dr Boylan, a former master of the National Maternity Hospital, will consult with other medical experts about bringing abortion in, and will help with the drafting of clinical guidelines.
The former Chair of the Institute of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists was a vocal supporter and campaigner for a Yes vote in the abortion referendum earlier this year.
Welcoming the appointment, Health Minister Simon Harris said: “Peter Boylan has a wealth of experience in caring for women. Over the course of his work, he has proven himself to be a strong patient advocate and a compassionate campaigner for women’s rights.
“I am grateful to him for taking on this position and I look forward to him working with the HSE to ensure safe, woman-centred services are operational in January.”
Theresa May has pledged to introduce civil partnerships for heterosexual couples in the UK. The Prime Minister said the move was for people who wanted to “formalise their relationship but don’t necessarily want to get married”. However, pro-marriage organisations say heterosexual civil partnerships would weaken marriage by creating a ‘marriage-lite’ alternative.
Speaking to the Evening Standard, Mrs May said she was “proud to sponsor the legislation that created equal marriage” and the latest proposal would give all couples “the same choices in life”.
Coalition for Marriage has previously warned: “The gold standard of commitment is marriage; with the declarations made in the presence of witnesses and the expectation of lifelong faithfulness”.
Heterosexual civil partnerships would only “weaken marriage by creating a two-tier system, offering a sort of marriage-lite option”.
Ciarán Kelly, a Deputy Director at The Christian Institute, has said civil partnerships give couples all the benefits of marriage without the responsibilities.
In Ireland, once marriage was redefined to excise sexual-complementarity from its essence, the Government stopped same-sex couples from engaging in new civil partnerships.
