Ireland’s abortion bill defeated; TD: ‘Fornication most likely cause of unwanted pregnancies’; System ‘ignores and stigmatises’ women who travel for abortion; Pro-choice groups call for new abortion legislation; Government “cannot accept” current version of proposed abortion law; Government to vote against more liberal law on abortion; Legislating for abortion.
Ireland’s abortion bill defeated
Turtle Bay and Beyond – The Irish Parliament rejected a bill by a 109-20 vote that was aimed at making abortion more widely available to its citizens. While the measure purports to only legalize abortion “for termination of pregnancy where a real and substantial risk to the life of the pregnant woman exists,” the bill’s sponsor, Clare Daly, of the opposition Socialist Party made it clear that the real goal is promoting easily accessible, legal abortion regardless of the circumstances.
“We believe that it is only a first step for abortion to be legalized in Ireland in all circumstances. We have waited long enough,” Ms. Daly said. “Over 100,000 Irish abortions have taken place in Britain for many different reasons, none of them easy, all of them valid. The hypocrisy, injustice and expense of having to travel to England for terminations, away from family and friends, is a disgrace.”
Abortion was officially legalized in Ireland in 1992 by the Courts but is limited to a few limited circumstances. Later governments have avoided passing legislation to carry out the order in the overwhelmingly Catholic country.
In December 2010, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Ireland’s failure to implement the existing constitutional “right” to abortion was a breach of the European Convention on Human Rights. The ECHR has commissioned an expert report (http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2012/0316/1224313395195.html) on how to respond to the failure to legislate.
http://www.turtlebayandbeyond.org/2012/abortion/irelands-abortion-bill-defeated/
TD: ‘Fornication most likely cause of unwanted pregnancies’
Independent.ie – Michelle Mulherin TD said during today’s Dáil debate that “fornication… is probably the single most likely cause of unwanted pregnancies in this country”.
http://www.thejournal.ie/td-fornication-most-likely-cause-of-unwanted-pregnancies-422895-Apr2012/
System ‘ignores and stigmatises’ women who travel for abortion
Irish Times – Four women who say they had to travel abroad for abortions after developing pregnancies with fatal foetal abnormalities have described how they felt “ignored and stigmatised” by health services in Ireland.
The women have decided to highlight their stories in order to bring attention to what they say are experiences shared by many women, but which rarely receive public attention.
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/frontpage/2012/0417/1224314824026.html
Pro-choice groups call for new abortion legislation
Irish Examiner – Wednesday, April 18 Pro-choice groups are calling for the introduction of legislation that would allow limited abortion in Ireland, in line with the ‘X Case’ ruling.
It comes as the Dáil debates a private members bill calling for the 20-year-old Supreme Court judgement to be implemented.
In 1992, the court ruled that women have a legal right to have an abortion in the State, where there is a real and substantial risk to their lives, including suicide.
However, successive Governments have failed to introduce laws that would implement the judgement.
http://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/ireland/pro-choice-groups-call-for-new-abortion-legislation-547934.html
Government “cannot accept” current version of proposed abortion law
TheJournal.ie – James Reilly says there are difficulties in Clare Daly’s Bill, but affirms the government’s intention to follow the ECHR ruling.
Government to vote against more liberal law on abortion
Indepedent.ie – The Government last night (April18) said legal issues prevent it from supporting legislation that seeks to introduce a more liberal abortion regime.
Socialist Party TD Clare Daly’s proposed new laws to legislate for the X case will be voted on at lunchtime. Ms Daly said the debate on the bill was “historic”.
Fine Gael and Labour Party TDs will be expected to vote with the Coalition against the bill and will not be allowed a free vote on the issue.
Legislating for abortion
Irish Times comment – 19th April – In this 20th anniversary of the X case, it is a sorry indictment of our legislature’s inability to deal with abortion that a Private Members’ Bill should be seen as necessary to vindicate rights established by the Supreme Court two decades ago.
The failure to legislate for abortion when the life of a mother is under physical or mental threat eventually led the European Court of Human Rights to rule against Ireland in the A,B,C case (2010) and to the belated establishment of an expert group by the current Government to report in June on implementing the court’s ruling.
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2012/0419/1224314924121.html
Hackers target abortion provider
Thousands of attempts have been made to hack into the computers of Britain’s largest provider of abortion services, the BBC learns.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-17765904