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Offaly Prolife

 

Offaly Prolife Statement on the Government 3 Year Review

of Abortion Legislation

 

Equal safeguards, care and protection for all children, before as well as after birth.

 

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"The child, by reason of his physical and mental immaturity, needs special safeguards and care, including appropriate legal protection, before as well as after birth."

UN Convention on the Rights of the Child

 

1. The Inherent Right to Life

 

As a result of the 2018 referendum the child before birth lost the protection of the constitution.

Nevertheless an inherent right to life, with rights to care and protection persist.

By convention the care and protection of the child is still primarily the role of parents and family and the state has an obligation to help in that care and protection. (UN Convention on the Rights of the Child - UNCRC).

 

59,796 births were registered in 2019, 30,555 male births and 29,241 female births, a decrease of 1,220 on 2018.2

6666 babies (1in 9) died by abortion in Ireland in 2019, an increase of 3700 deaths on 2018.3

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​We ask the Government Review - in the cases of the 6666 children who died by abortion in 2019 what could the state have done to better care and protect?

 

 

2. The Right to Promotion of Social Progress and Better Standards of Living

 

“Bearing in mind the duty to promote social progress and better standards of life”. (UNCRC)

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Research in the U.S. last year (urban clinic San Francisco) reported that almost 1 in 5 abortions were found to be among people experiencing homelessness or housing instability.4

 

“At the end of 2020 the number of homeless families in Ireland had more than doubled in just over 5 years. Almost one third of people in emergency accommodation were children. This number does not include ‘hidden homelessness’ which refers to people who are living in squats or ‘sofa surfing’ with friends. Furthermore, women and children staying in domestic violence refuges were not included in these homeless emergency accommodation counts.”5.  

 

In 2019 in Tullamore emergency accommodation provision was insufficient to meet need. Women and children had to travel to a hostel in Mullingar while men had to travel to Longford for accommodation. The separation of families and breakup of the family unit can be traumatic.6

 

We ask that the government ensures that a person sleeping rough, or someone who has been long-term homeless, is provided with their own secure accommodation as well as access to specialised support services. We ask the state to support targeted local services and activities working to assist people who are at risk of homelessness.

 

 

3. The Right of the Family to Protections and Assistance

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“Convinced that the family should be afforded the necessary protection and assistance so that it can fully assume its responsibilities within the community”. (UNCRC)

 

The evidence has consistently shown that many women request abortions due to a lack of financial resources.

A Guttmacher Institute study reported that 73% of women cited this as the motivating factor for abortion7.

 

We ask the government not to hide behind a false and privileged presumption that abortion is a choice but identify and target the issues of poverty that permeate the story of abortion. The information and practical supports needed to continue pregnancy must be easily accessible, available locally and promptly, on a par with the medical services for women provided in accordance with the Act.

 

 

4. The Right of the Child to Particular Care

 

“Bearing in mind the need to extend particular care to the child”. (UNCRC)

 

We ask why the government will not support proposals to ensure pain relief is given to unborn babies before late term abortions.  Unbelievably, this most reasonable and humane proposal was rejected by the Dáil in 2018. There is growing scientific evidence from around the world that unborn babies in the womb feel pain before 20 weeks.8

 

This humane request needs to be reconsidered and given effect by the Oireachtas without delay.

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5. The Right of the Child to Special Safeguards and Care

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​“Bearing in mind that, “the child needs special safeguards and care”. (UNCRC)

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The 2020 University College Cork study of pregnancy termination services in Irish hospitals looked at the experience of specialist doctors in providing the new abortion service in the cases of unborn babies with life limiting conditions. Doctors described the life ending procedures, the internal conflict they feel, how awful and difficult it can be ending the lives of unborn babies. Half of the specialists expressed uncertainty regarding a diagnosis being fatal as it “depends on an individual’s definition of what is fatal”.9 The study describes true challenges in most difficult situations, and the medical specialist’s fear of getting it wrong.

 

The sad reality of abortion services in Irish hospitals presented is far from the compassion or answer to difficult situations presented in the referendum campaign or possibly envisaged by legislators.

 

In December 2017, under the UNCRPD, the full United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities declared that “laws which explicitly allow for abortion on grounds of impairment violate the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (Art. 4, 5, 8)”.  

 

The UN committee explained that “Even if the condition is considered fatal, there is still a decision made on the basis of impairment. Often it cannot be said if an impairment is fatal. Experience shows that assessments on impairment conditions are often false. Even if it is not false, the assessment perpetuates notions of stereotyping disability as incompatible with a good life.”10.

 

We ask for an end to abortion on the grounds of impairment. We ask for a binding commitment to resources for services that inform, support and advocate for parents, pre and post screening for disability, in the continuing of pregnancy and parenting of children, where the unborn child is diagnosed with disability or life limiting condition or where the parent is a person with disability who may seek supports.

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Conclusion

We are a nation that has taken extraordinary and necessary measures for the last year to “to shelter our most vulnerable and protect them”.11

Our government acted swiftly and decisively in March 2020 when sadly 200 people had died from Covid -19, and sadly more would die.

It does not make sense that we are a people that can ignore or not be saddened by the loss of almost 7000 of our most vulnerable lives.

 

References

1. Bray, J. (2021). “Abortion Legislation Review to Begin, Donnelly tells Cabinet”, The Irish Times, 6th March. Available at: https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/abortion-legislation-review-to-begin-donnelly-tells-cabinet-1.4502605 (Accessed: 26-3-21)

2. C.S.O. (2020) Vital Statistics Yearly Summary, CSO statistical publication, 29 May. Available at: https://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/ep/p-vsys/vitalstatisticsyearlysummary2019/ (Accessed: 26-3-21)

3. Pro-life Campaign (2020) Irish Abortion Statistics, Statistics Library. Available at: https://prolifecampaign.ie/statistics-library/ (Accessed: 26-3-21) 

4. Megan S Orlando, Anusha M Vable, Kelsey Holt, Erin Wingo, Sara Newmann, Bradley J Shapiro, Deborah Borne, Eleanor A Drey, Dominika Seidman (2020). https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32640198/#affiliation-7 (Accessed 26-3-21)

5. Focus Ireland (2021) “How many people are homeless”, About Homelessness, January 2021. Available at: https://www.focusireland.ie/resource-hub/about-homelessness/ (Accessed 26-3-21)

6. Kildare Street (2019) “Homelessness Motion – Private Members, Carol Nolan, Dail Debates, 14th February. Available at: https://www.kildarestreet.com/debates/?id=2019-02-14a.304&s=Housing+offaly+Carol+nolan#g341 (Accessed 26-3-21)

7. Finer LB, Frohwirth LF, Dauphinee LA, Singh S, Moore AM. (2005) “Reasons U.S. women have abortions: quantitative and qualitative perspectives.” Perspect Sex Reprod Health. September 2005; 37:110-8 Available at:  https://www.guttmacher.org/journals/psrh/2005/reasons-us-women-have-abortions-quantitative-and-qualitative-perspectives (Accessed 26-3-21)

8. All Party Oireachtas Life and Dignity Group (2020) “Late Term Abortion and Foetal Pain – Proposing a Humane Response” 2nd December. Available at: https://lifeanddignity.ie/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/All-Party-Oireachtas-Late-Term-Abortion-Foetal-Pain-Report-Digital.pdf (Accessed 26-3-21)

 

9. F S. Power, S. Meaney, K. O’Donoghue (2020) “Foetal medicine specialist experiences of providing a new service of termination of pregnancy for fatal fetal anomaly: a qualitative study.” British journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, September 2020.

10. United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities(2017) “Comments on the draft General Comment No36 of the Human Rights Committee on article 6 of the 11.

11. International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 2017. Available at:  https://www.ohchr.org › ccpr › gcarticle6 › crpd (Accessed: 26-3-21)

Merrion Street Irish Government News Service (2020) “Speech of An Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar T.D., Update on COVID-19”, 10th April. Available at: https://merrionstreet.ie/en/news-room/speeches/speech_of_an_taoiseach_leo_varadkar_t_d_update_on_covid-19.html (Accessed 26-3-21)