The headlines are somewhat misleading.
"Abortion to be legalised in Ireland"
Well, yes but only in the most limited of circumstances. Abortion will be permitted if there is a danger to the life of the mother. It will not be allowed if there is a danger to the health of the mother. It will not be allowed in cases of rape or incest. It most certainly will not be allowed because a woman feels it is the best choice for her.
Obviously, it's a victory of sorts but really, what we had to do to get here? Twenty years after our own Supreme Court ruled on this, two years after the European Court of Human Rights urged Ireland to enact legislation, it took the death of a young woman to finally force an Irish government to act on this issue.
If Ireland were not a mere hour long flight from Britain, we would surely be responsible for the deaths of more women. As it is 12 Irish women a day travel to Britain for an abortion. It's shameful how this country treats its women.
Our constitution explicitly states that the unborn has rights. Allegedly these rights are to be upheld with due regard to the rights of the mother but this is not the case. No Irish man faces any interference in his own bodily integrity or his right to health care. The same is absolutely not true for Irish women. Sexual discrimination is inherently built into our legal system due to our Constitution.
Pro-Life campaigners have claimed the proposed legislation will allow for abortion on demand. Unfortunately, I think they're wrong.
"Abortion to be legalised in Ireland"
Well, yes but only in the most limited of circumstances. Abortion will be permitted if there is a danger to the life of the mother. It will not be allowed if there is a danger to the health of the mother. It will not be allowed in cases of rape or incest. It most certainly will not be allowed because a woman feels it is the best choice for her.
Obviously, it's a victory of sorts but really, what we had to do to get here? Twenty years after our own Supreme Court ruled on this, two years after the European Court of Human Rights urged Ireland to enact legislation, it took the death of a young woman to finally force an Irish government to act on this issue.
If Ireland were not a mere hour long flight from Britain, we would surely be responsible for the deaths of more women. As it is 12 Irish women a day travel to Britain for an abortion. It's shameful how this country treats its women.
Our constitution explicitly states that the unborn has rights. Allegedly these rights are to be upheld with due regard to the rights of the mother but this is not the case. No Irish man faces any interference in his own bodily integrity or his right to health care. The same is absolutely not true for Irish women. Sexual discrimination is inherently built into our legal system due to our Constitution.
Pro-Life campaigners have claimed the proposed legislation will allow for abortion on demand. Unfortunately, I think they're wrong.
"No Irish man faces any interference in his own bodily integrity or his right to health care." No Irishmen carry babies in their wombs do they? if they had they surely would've been treated the same.
ReplyDelete"Unfortunately, I think they're wrong." Unfortunately meaning fortunately, right?