By Sarah Mac Donald - 12 July, 2013
The Dáil has voted in favour of the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill by 127 votes to 31.
The bill will now be sent to President Higgins for signing into law although he may decide to refer it to the Supreme Court to test its constitutionality.
The President also has the option of meeting with the Council of State to seek their advice on it is constitutionality.
On Monday, the Bishops indicated that they are considering challenging the Bill.
As expected Minister of State Lucinda Creighton voted against the Bill in an amendment dealing with section nine on suicidal risk. The amendment – number 56 of 165 – was voted down by 130 votes to 24.
It was proposed by Fianna Fail’s Eamon O Cuiv, Independent TD Mattie McGrath and Sinn Fein’s Peadar Toibin, as well as Billy Timmins and Terence Flanagan, two of the Fine Gael TDs who have lost the party whip.
Ms Creighton is now automatically expelled from the Fine Gael parliamentary party and she announced on Thursday evening that she is to step down as Minister of State for European Affairs.
Speaking to RTE News on Thursday night, she said she held no rancour or bitterness and wished “Enda Kenny and all the Government the very best.”
“I’m very sad. I love my job. I’ve been very privileged to perform my functions and duties as Minister for European Affairs for the last two years and more, and it’s very sad for me that that is over. But I knew the consequences when I voted,” Ms Creighton told RTE.
Earlier in the debate on Thursday evening, the Dublin South East TD called for time limits to be introduced where a foetus is viable.
She told the Dáil chamber that she wanted to protect viable life and bring in limitations on when terminations could be carried out. “It would actually allay the genuine concerns of many of our citizens,” she said.
“We know that in the vast majority of jurisdictions around the world where there are abortion regimes in place, far more liberal regimes of the type I hope we never see in this country, they do still enforce gestational limits, term limits for carrying out abortions,” she said. The Fine Gael TD added, “I think that this is the minimum our citizens deserve.”
Another Dublin Fine Gael TD who has already lost the party whip on the legislation, supported term limits. Peter Mathews said termination at 12 weeks was just as repugnant as a termination later in pregnancy.
Meanwhile, the Pro Life Campaign on Thursday evening issued a statement refuting statements made by Minister for Health, Dr James Reilly.
The PLC said that to put maximum pressure on TDs with concerns about the abortion legislation, the Minister had been making a number of claims “that aren’t true.”
Addressing Minister Reilly’s claim that the legislation restates the general prohibition on abortion in Ireland, the PLC said this is the case in Britain. “Abortion remains technically illegal in Britain but there are all sorts of exceptions meaning abortion on demand.”
According to the PLC, the Government is doing the same with this legislation. “It is criminalising abortion, but creating wide exceptions – including where the abortion is sought based on a threat of suicide. The psychiatrists have to state that the abortion is the only means of averting the threat. But they have no evidence to go on, and there is no way of proving them wrong.”
On the claim that the legislation is about saving women’s lives, the pro life group stated that Ireland is recognised as one of the safest countries in the world for women in pregnancy.
“If we provide abortion in response to a suicide threat, an unknown number of unborn children will be killed. Also, we may endanger the mental health of some women.”
They refer to the Master of the Rotunda Hospital, Dr Sam Coulter-Smith’s repetition of his concerns last week about the proposed legislation, saying that terminations in cases of suicide threats are not evidence-based and could ‘create more problems’.
The pro-life group reject the claim that the safeguards against abortion in the new legislation are much stronger than those that exist at present.
“The existing situation is imperfect but it’s better than legislation for X. In the 21 years since the X decision, no abortion regime has taken hold in Ireland. But now for the first time, legislation will activate a legal mechanism for pro-choice psychiatrists to sanction an abortion because they deem a threat of suicide to amount to a risk to life,” the PLC warn.
“Why are pro-choice Labour people who have campaigned for 21 years to liberalise our abortion law happy with this legislation?” they ask.
PLC also claim that the motivation behind the legislation is to appease the Labour Party and its demand for the introduction of abortion.
They also reject the claim that the number of cases where a suicidal woman needs abortion to save her life is rare. They argue that where a woman has an underlying mental health illness, abortion is not the answer and could well be counter-productive for a woman’s mental health. “It is not medical treatment,” they warn.
Where there is no underlying mental illness, it’s not a medical situation at all, they warn. Whatever psychiatrists do, the Minister has no way of policing it, PLC highlight.
By Sarah Mac Donald
