The Pro Life Campaign (PLC) has accused the United Nations’ Committee Against Torture (UNCAT) of “inverting 
the standard of human rights” after it posed a number of questions about Ireland’s record on abortion.
Yesterday it emerged that UNCAT had questioned the Government as to whether “adequate guidelines exist…..for medical and other professionals on criteria to be met for legal termination of pregnancies”.
It went on to ask “[w]hether adequate procedures exist to challenge differing medical opinions, and whether adequate services for carrying out abortions exist in the State”.
UNCAT has also requested “information on whether current legislation regarding termination of pregnancy upholds a woman’s rights to freedom from discrimination and to prevent other breaches of the convention”.
In response, Cora Sherlock of the PLC said: “For a body that derives its moral authority from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which affirms everyone’s right to life, it is tragic that this Committee is inverting that standard of human rights by calling on Ireland to allow for the destruction of innocent unborn babies.
“A Committee under the auspices of the UN should be promoting a gold standard of care and respect for life rather than callously affirming abortion.”
She asked: “Where do the members of the UN Committee Against Torture stand on the rights of babies born alive after abortion and left to die?
“We know the answer to this question. The Committee Against Torture has never voiced concern on this matter or challenged this situation in countries where we know it happens.”
“For example, the Confidential Enquiry into Maternal and Child Health, 2007 commissioned by the UK Government, found that 66 infants survived NHS termination attempts in hospitals in England and Wales during 2005.
“Instead of dying during the abortion procedure as intended, they survived and were able to breathe unaided. But they received no medical attention or care and were left in corners to die. One of the babies lived for ten hours.”
“What is more tortuous than this and how can the United Nations Committee Against Torture remain silent on this barbaric practice?”
Meanwhile the PLC has also criticised Independent TD Mick Wallace over his plan to introduce a further Bill in the Dáil to make abortion available in situations where the unborn baby has a terminal illness.
PLC spokesperson Caroline Simons said: “Mick Wallace’s latest abortion proposal is further evidence of a focus on abortion, rather than care, in the case of babies with terminal illness. In these difficult situations, families should be offered adequate support thorugh peri-natal hospice care facilities after receiving poor pre-natal diagnoses.
“Deputy Wallace’s continues to describe terminally ill babies as ‘non-viable’ and ‘incompatible with life’.
“Not only are this descriptions misleading but it is deeply hurtful to families whose babies live or lived with a terminal illness to describe their children as ‘non-viable’ or ‘incompatible with life’.
“Describing the ending of the life of a terminally ill baby as ‘medical treatment’ is simply not acceptable. A medical treatment is one that aims to save a life not end one.”