Three Fianna Fáil members of the Oireachtas Committee on the Eighth Amendment have called for unrestricted abortion for the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, the period in which about 90pc of abortions take place. Their move comes just weeks after the Fianna Fáil Ard Fheis passed a motion to preserve the Eighth Amendment in full so as to protect unborn life. In a joint submission to the committee, Senator Ned O’Sullivan and TDs Billy Kelleher and Lisa Chambers outline their belief that terminations should be accessible when the life and the health of a mother is at risk. There should be no distinction between the mental or physical health of the mother, they add.
Their submission brings to ten the number of members of the 21 person committee, a near majority, who have called for unrestricted abortion up to 12 weeks. In contrast to the Fianna Fáil members, three Sinn Fein members of the committee say they will not vote in favour of the 12 week unrestricted abortion proposal as they have no mandate from their party’s Ard Fheis for doing so.
The latest Irish Times/Ipsos MRBI poll has found a majority favour lifting some restrictions on abortion. However, they were not asked what kind of law they would like to see replace it. Asked about the prospect of the referendum on the Eighth Amendment next year, 62 per cent said they would vote in favour of changing the Constitution to allow the Oireachtas to legislate for greater access to abortion, the poll finds. More than a quarter of voters (26 per cent) said they would vote against the move, while 13 per cent offered no opinion.
Minister Katherine Zappone wants abortion to be available for any reason in at least the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. She wants the Eighth amendment repealed entirely. This is likely to be the recommendation of the Oireachtas abortion committee examining the matter, though it will then be up to the Government to decide whether a referendum should simply repeal the Eighth or amend it to allow abortion in certain specified circumstances. Speaking at Dublin City University, Ms Zappone made clear she will be a voice at the cabinet pushing for full repeal, saying that the Pro-Life Amendment to the Constitution must be removed in full and should not be replaced with any other constitutional wording. She also said that legislation should follow “under which abortion is safe, legal and available to all who need it”. In this context “availability” means abortion services that are subsidised by Government and accessible in locations all across the country.
She said it was her belief that abortion should be available upon request up to 12 weeks, though later term abortions should also be facilitated without the mother needing to “prove” her case.
The last three remaining CASA abortion clinics in the Netherlands closed their doors for good this week. The abortion chain which operated seven clinics in the Netherlands was revealed to be involved in extensive fraud in a landmark investigation earlier this year. CASA clinics, which are responsible for nearly half of the 31,000 abortions carried out in the Netherlands each year, are alleged to have committed fraud worth a massive €15 million to date. The clinics have been accused of irregular billing practices for public subsidies, including claims for deep sedation and overall anesthesia that were never performed.
The bankruptcy of the abortion chain means women are having to wait longer and travel longer distances for an abortion. Amsterdam, The Hague, Rotterdam and Maastricht no longer have a specialist unit. Women are now travelling to Roermond, Utrecht and Groningen for the operation as waiting lists double to up to two weeks in places.
PS. The linked article says that the rate of “abortion compared to live pregnancies” is 8.6. That’s is not correct. 8.6 is the number of abortions per 1000 women of fertile age. The number of abortion per 1000 pregnancies is 181.2.
The UK Parliament is set to pass a law that will enable single people become the legal parent of a child born through surrogacy. The right of a child to a mother and father will not be considered. The practice of surrogacy in the UK is legal but there are some restrictions. Surrogacy contracts cannot be enforced, so in the UK, as also in Ireland, the woman bearing the child is the legal mother at birth (and her partner the father, if she is married or in a civil partnership) and remains so unless and until she signs away all rights over the child. This occurs when those who contracted the surrogacy apply to a court for a parental order which requires the consent of the birth mother. If the Court grants the order, the parental rights of the birth mother are extinguished, legal parenthood is transferred, the existing birth cert destroyed and a new birth certificate, reflecting the new legal parents, is drawn up. Currently, however, only couples may apply for parental orders, so even though single men or single women could arrange a private surrogacy, they may be denied legal parentage after the fact. This happened to a single man in 2016, who was refused a parental order because he was single, but the High Court decided that this law was discriminatory and in breach of the European Convention on human rights. In a comment that entirely overlooked the child’s natural parentage, Sir James Munby, president of the family division, explained the importance of having the correct legal parent(s): “Section 54 goes to the most fundamental aspects of status and, transcending even status, to the very identity of the child as a human being: who he is and who his parents are… A parental order has an effect extending far beyond the merely legal. It has the most profound personal, emotional, psychological, social and, it may be in some cases, cultural and religious, consequences.”
In response to that judgement, parliament is now set to give single people equal rights as couples in claiming legal parentage of the children they have acquired through their private surrogacy contracts.
The Irish Catholic Bishops have expressed their concern about repealing the pro-life amendment from the Constitution as its removal would have “no effect other than to expose unborn children to greater risk”. In a statement released after their winter meeting, the bishops appealed to each member of the Oireachtas to consider “how society can best respond to the personal needs of women within a legal and constitutional framework which acknowledges the right to life of the unborn, together with the equal right to life of the mother”. The Bishops affirmed that “Article 40.3.3 has a particular vision based on respect for the life of every person and that its removal can have no effect other than to expose unborn children to greater risk”. The bishops said that every human life has sanctity and innate dignity from conception to natural death and this is a value that is rooted in reason as well as faith and should be capable of being embraced by all in society.
A referendum to outright repeal the Eighth Amendment is likely to be the recommendation of the Oireachtas abortion committee. The Irish Times reports that a majority of members of the committee spoke on Wednesday in favour of removing article 40.3.3 and giving politicians the ability to introduce legislation. Fianna Fáil TD and health spokesperson, Billy Kelleher, led the way saying that trying to replace or amend article 40.3.3 is not practical, and he insisted a straight repeal is the only option. He was joined by the left-wing members of the committee, including Independents4Change TD Clare Daly, Social Democrats TD Catherine Murphy, Labour TD Jan O’Sullivan and Independent Senator Lynn Ruane who all supported a straight repeal of the Eighth Amendment, as did the three Sinn Féin members.
Three members of the committee, Independent Senator Ronan Mullen, Independent TD Mattie McGrath and Fine Gael TD Peter Fitzpatrick, said bias was shown by the committee and criticised in particular the paucity of pro-life witnesses. Mr Fitzpatrick said many of his concerns about the harmful effect of abortions on women were not considered and the committee was therefore turning a blind eye to such. On the substantive legal change being proposed, he said repealing the Eighth Amendment would create a two-tier system where some “babies are given the right to life and some are not”.
The accusations of bias were rejected by the chair of the committee Catherine Noone, who insisted her conscience was clear in this regard.
The committee will take its final vote on all recommendations this coming Wednesday, December 13th.
The highest court in Austria has ruled that a law allowing same-sex couples enter civil partnerships but not marriage is discriminatory and have declared that such couples may enter marriage contracts from January 1st 2019. The overturned law had been passed in parliament in 2009, and in June of this year, parliament voted by a majority of 110 to 26 to reject same-sex marriage. Nonetheless, the conservative People’s Party (OVP), whose leader Sebastian Kurz is expected to be sworn in as chancellor next month, said it will accept the ruling. However, the Freedom Party (FPO), Kurz’s chosen government coalition partner criticised the ruling. “Now there is equal treatment for something that’s not equal,” said Herbert Kickl, FPO General Secretary, in a statement. A marriage between women and men needs protection as only these partnerships can create children, he said. In response to the ruling, the lawyer for the female couples who brought the case, Helmut Graupner, said it was a historic day. “Austria is the first European country to recognise marriage equality for same-gender couples as a fundamental human right. All the other European states with marriage equality introduced it (just) the political way,” he said in a Facebook post.
Members of the Oireachtas committee on the Eighth Amendment have been asked to take a position on each of the recommendations of the Citizens’ Assembly and submit to the committee by Friday any amendments to those recommendations or propose a different outcome entirely. The members will then vote on the proposals next Wednesday, Dec 13th, and a draft report will be prepared by Friday Dec 15th. The committee will finalise its report and submit it to the full Oireachtas on Wednesday Dec 20th. The Citizens’ Assembly recommended that abortion should be generally available for the first 22 weeks of pregnancy and anytime up to nine months in more serious cases. They also recommended not only that the Eighth amendment should be repealed but that the Oireachtas should be given absolute sovereignty, above the Courts and the Constitution, to make law in the area of abortion.
While various committee members have talked about the kind of abortion legislation they would like to see, most have not said whether they want a referendum that would fully repeal the Eighth Amendment. Pro-life members of the committee, Independent Senator Rónán Mullen, Independent TD Mattie McGrath and Fine Gael TD Peter Fitzpatrick, want it retained in full.
A Marie Stopes abortion clinic that opened in Belfast in 2012 and has been subject to protests by pro-life groups ever since is to shut down. Director of the pro-life group Precious Life, Bernadette Smyth, who led the protests said she was “celebrating this massive pro-life victory”. She said the closure is due to the dedication, commitment, and hard work of Precious Life volunteers. “We will now accelerate our efforts in helping women with unplanned pregnancies, liaising with agencies like Stanton Healthcare NI — because women and babies deserve better than Marie Stopes.” Stanton Healthcare Centre is a life affirming pregnancy care centre dedicated to serving women facing unexpected pregnancies.
