Press Coverage Part Two

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Abortion legislation to pass through Dáil without request for a vote......................................................................... vote.........................................................................3 3 FF politicians given power to vote freely over abortion law...................................................................................... law...................................................................................... 4 Kenny using Nuremberg Nazi defence, says cleric.................................................................................................. cleric.................................................................................................. 6 'Greatest sham I've ever taken part in' - McGrath ................................................ ................................................................................................... ..................................................... 7 Martin calls for Dail vote on abortion ............................................. ................................................................................................ ........................................................................... ........................ 8 Kenny hits back at Vatican call to resign.................................................................................................................. resign.................................................................................................................. 9 Anti-choice logic untenable in cases of fatal abnormality. The new legislation should provide for cases where a baby’s congenital defects............................................... defects... ............................................................................................... ........................................................................................ .....................................11 11 Supreme court denies abortion for ill pregnant woman with unviable foetus. El Salvador court cites ‘absolute impediment’ against allowing procedure. ..................................................................................................... ............................................................................................................... .......... 13 Senior cleric urges Irish society to rethink proposed abortion laws........................................................................ laws........................................................................14 14 Vatican official says politicians should resign rather than support support abortion legislation .......................................... ..........................................15 15 Keaveney's abortion stance riles riles own party ............................................... .................................................................................................. ............................................................ ......... 16 The abortion debate. .................................................. ..................................................................................................... ............................................................................................ .........................................17 17 Reilly rules out abortion in fatal abnormality cases ................................................. ................................................................................................ ...............................................19 19 Politicising the eucharist once again ............................................. ................................................................................................ ......................................................................... ...................... 20 Bishops have an obligation to admonish pro- abortion politicians. It is the duty of the Catholic to resist the civil law and obey the law of the church. ............................................................................................................................. .............................................................................................................................21 21 10-week campaign for 'No' vote gets under way.................................................................................................... way.................................................................................................... 23 Call for terminations to be allowed in fatal abnormality cases................................................................................ cases................................................................................24 24 Moral certainty is not sufficient to shape legislation. We could base abortion ethicson the moral experience of  women................................................ women. .................................................................................................. ...................................................................................................... ................................................................. .............. 25 Fall in seizures of drugs that induce abortion . Irish women continue to obtain drugs such as Misoprostol and Mifepristone on internet.......................................................................................................................................... internet..........................................................................................................................................27 27 Newsletter says State is crossing moral rubicon.................................................................................................... rubicon.................................................................................................... 29 Canon law should stay out of politics; Excommunicating legislators who back abortion is dubious, argues Gina Menzies ............................................... .................................................................................................. ...................................................................................................... ................................................................ ............. 30 Division Bell: Abortion compromise will please nobody ......................................................................................... ......................................................................................... 32 Martin could lose key lieutenants; Two of FF leader's main men voice concern over vote as church starts antiabortion campaign............................................. campaign ................................................................................................ .....................................................................................................34 ..................................................34 Bishop's threat to politicians sounded medieval to many.......................................................................................36 many....................................................................................... 36 Bid to allow abortion in fatal abnormality cases ..................................................................................................... ..................................................................................................... 38 Passing flawed legislation on abortion would confirm Irish elite groupthink...........................................................39 groupthink........................................................... 39 Time lim Time limitit a key issue issue arisin arising g from from hea hearin rings. gs. Whi While le the discou discourse rse was int intere erestin sting, g, inf inform ormati ative ve and utterl utterlyy engaging, clarity is needed in................................................................................................................................. in.................................................................................................................................41 41 Buttimer received threats of ‘assault and murder’ and ‘Holocaust’ leaflets. ................................................... ........................................................... ........ 43 Martin brave in abortion stance .................................................. ..................................................................................................... ............................................................................ ......................... 44 Page 1 of 54 © 2013 Factiva, Inc. All rights reserved.

 

Martin backs proposed bill on abortion............................................ abortion ............................................................................................... ....................................................................... .................... 45 Eucharist is not an ace card to be dealt in debate. The issue of abortion is complex. No one’s stance should merit excommunication. ............................................. ................................................................................................ .....................................................................................................46 ..................................................46 Martin voices support for abortion Bill. FF leader says Bill would make abortion more restrictive than is currently the case. ............................................. ................................................................................................ ...................................................................................................... ................................................................. .............. 48 FG minister slams anti- abortion protesters as 'literally mad' ............................................... ................................................................................. ..................................49 49 Church must ‘condemn anti- abortion activists’...................................................................................................... activists’...................................................................................................... 50 The abortion debate. .................................................. ..................................................................................................... ............................................................................................ .........................................51 51 Dáil will sit extra days if needed,says Reilly. Abortion legislation may require sittings into late summer, says Minister............................................... Minister. ................................................................................................. ...................................................................................................... ................................................................. .............. 53

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A  o b tir n le a g sli io  t a n p sth  u o r g o h il w D á h it e to u ru q fsto e  a vr o te

Abortion legislation to pass through Dáil without request for a vote

183 words 31 May 2013 11:03 The Irish Examiner  IRISEX English © Irish Examiner, 2013. Thomas Crosbie Media, TCH The Tánaiste has said the new  abortion legislation will go through the Dáil without a vote - if those opposed to the Bill do not call for one. Eamon Gilmore said it is not up to the Government to decide if TDs will have to vote on the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill - it is up to those who are against it. The prospect of there being no vote on the legislation was raised in recent weeks - if Fianna Fáil supports it. Ten TDs are needed to specifically demand a vote - and the Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore said the Government is obviously going to agree to the legislation. "The issue of is there going to be a vote, is there not going to be a vote, that is decided by those who are opposed to the legislation," he said. "The government side will calls put the legislation, and if nobodygoes is opposed the legislation opposed to the legislation a vote, then the legislation throughtowithout a vote." and nobody who is Document IRISEX0020130531e95v000un

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F p lit n o ica g ivs e n w o e p  to r tvo e  e rf ly o e ve r o b  rtio a n la w

News FF politicians given power to vote freely over abortion law

Ferghal Blaney 761 words 31 May 2013 Irish Daily Mail IRDAIM 2; Eire 2 English © 2013 Associated Newspapers. All rights reserved FIANNA Fáil politicians will be allowed to vote 'with their conscience' on the forthcoming  abortion legislation. The party leadership has granted the free vote after it emerged that there were major divisions within the parliamentary party. The party leader, Micheál Martin said he personally supports the Government proposal to legislate to allow for abortions in cases where the life of the mother is deemed to be at risk, including from suicide. But other senior figures in the party, including TDs Dara Calheld leary and Michael McGrath, are known to be against allowing suicide to be considered a risk to the life of the mother. Senators Jim Walsh, Labhrás Ó Murchú and Diarmuid Wilson have also expressed reservations about the proposed legislation, as has the party's deputy leader Eamon Ó Cuív. Mr Martin had planned to impose the party whip and have his members row in behind him in supporting the bill. However, Mr Martin said that after a 'comprehensive and respectful' discussion amongst parliamentary members, TDs, senators and MEPs at a parliamentary party meeting, it was agreed the free vote would be permitted. 'Given the genuine and deeply convictions on both sides... my view was that the most appropriate course of  action was to respect these differences of conscience and allow colleagues to vote on that basis. 'Despite the different perspectives on elements of the Bill, the parliamentary party reaffirmed our commitment to protecting the lives of pregnant women in this country, expressed our ongoing commitment to Article 40.3.3 of  Bunreacht na h'Éireann and restated our determination not to seek party political advantage from this issue,' he said. Some fear setting this precedent could undermine Mr Martin's leadership on future controversial topics. But he insisted: 'This is a unique issue.' He said: 'I certainly did not want to force my particular view down anybody's throat and force them into a position where it would fundamentally be going against their own beliefs… Times are changing in politics and I think it does facilitate the articulation of a person's particular  view on this bill.' Although there has been open resistance within Fine Gael to the legislation, Labour has presented a relatively united front in support of the bill. However, Labour chairman Colm Keaveney has again broken ranks, indicating that he is planning to oppose the new bill. Last weekend, Mr Keaveney - who lost the Labour party whip last year after voting against cuts to respite care grants - said he cannot support the legislation following last week's health committee hearings. He said he previously would have regarded himself as pro-choice, but has discovered he has reservations. Two of his chief concerns include the lack of clarity on whether there will be a time limit for terminations and the inclusion of suicidal ideation of the mother as a grounds for abortions. The Galway East TD said he will not support the bill unless changes are made. Meanwhile, the committee examining the heads of the bill have submitted their report to Health Minister  James Reilly. The Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children spent three days earlier this month questioning legal and medical experts on the bill. The 1,639-page report does not make any recommendations or come to any conclusions about the evidence heard, but provides an overview of the expert testimony given to the Joint Committee. [email protected] Page 4 of 54 © 2013 Factiva, Inc. All rights reserved.

 

ENDA BLASTS PAPAL ADVISER THE Taoiseach has dismissed calls from a senior Vatican official that politicians should resign rather than support Ireland's abortion legislation. A monsignor in Rome called for TDs and Senators to quit as he drew parallels between the contentious issue and Nazism. But Enda Kenny hit back yesterday, warning the Catholic hierarchy that it should not interfere in Irish Government business. 'I'm a Catholic and I don't interfere in the messages of the church. I have no comment to make on what the cardinal from the Vatican says,'said Mr Kenny said. 'This is about savingFine lives, notand ending them.' Papal adviser Monsignor Jacques Suaudeau the defence of merely obeying Gael Labour's orders would be similar to the excuses used by Nazi war criminals during the Nuremberg Trials. 'If an act is evil and you receive an order to do it then you cannot do it,' the monsignor said. 'Sometimes people forget Nuremberg. You cannot cover yourself with the cover of party discipline.' 'Differences of conscience' 'This is a unique issue' Document IRDAIM0020130531e95v0005q

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Kn e y u n si u N g m e  r  g re b a Ne id z f ce n s,a ys c  icrle

News Kenny using Nuremberg Nazi defence, says cleric

Garry O'Sullivan 324 words 31 May 2013 Irish Independent IINM 3; National 15 English (c) 2013 Independent Newspapers Ireland Ltd TAOISEACH Enda Kenny has again stressed his job as head of Government is to deal with our Constitution and laws - after claims from a senior Vatican official that imposing the party whip on the  abortion issue is similar to the defence used by Nazis at the Nuremberg war crimes trials. Monsignor Jacques Suadeau a leading official in the Vatican, also told the 'Irish Catholic' ' that Catholic TDs and senators who vote in favour of  abortion  abortion are pushing themselves out of the church. He added that Ms r Jacques Kenny should resign if he doesn't "impose" his beliefs as a Catholic, and called abortion "evil". "If the prime minister, as a Catholic, doesn't want to impose his belief and the time has come for a more moderate line on abortion, then he resigns," Msgr Suadeau said. Duty He also claimed a politician insisting they were only doing their duty by voting for the abortion legislation was similar to Nazi officials in the Nuremberg trials. Suadeau "Sometimes people forget Nuremberg," Msgr Suadeau, the scientific director of the Pontifical Academy for Life at the Vatican, added. "You cannot cover yourself with the cover of party discipline." " But Mr Kenny said he had no comment, before adding: "My job as head of government is to deal with our  Constitution and our laws. I'm a Catholic and I don''t interfere in the messages from the church. "I'"I've set out very clearly what it is that we have to do here in terms of our Constitution and the law. This is about saving lives, not ending them." But Msgr Suadeau also suggested TDs could abstain on abortion if it goes against their conscience, and said they could not have it both ways voting for abortion and being Catholic. "Catholic politicians cannot live under two houses when it comes to abortion," added Msgr Suadeau. Document IINM000020130531e95v0004y

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e r'G e t sh a t m a I've e v  rkta e p n a  tin r M '- G c a th  r

News 'Greatest sham I've ever taken part in' - McGrath

FIACH KELLY 235 words 31 May 2013 Irish Independent IINM 3; National 14 English (c) 2013 Independent Newspapers Ireland Ltd THE Oireachtas  abortion hearings have been described as a "sham of an exercise" by a TD who sat on the committee which carried them out. Independent TD Mattie McGrath is a member of the Oireachtas Health Committee, which carried out two s rounds of hearings into the  abortion legislation. The first were held before the Government drafted its abortion bill; the second after the heads of the bill were published. The committee produced its report on the second round of hearings yesterday, but, similar to the first report, it contains no recommendations. It reproduced transcripts of the hearings from two weeks ago, as well as written submissions made by interested parties. It will now be sent to the Cabinet. But Mr McGrath, who is anti-abortion, described the process as "pointless". "It was a pointless exercise, completely pointless," Mr McGrath said. "It was the greatest sham of an exercise I have ever taken part in. It was a total charade, and a waste of people's time." Fine Gael TD Jerry Buttimer said he hoped the hearings "will provide much assistance in the final drafting". "Our three days of hearings have been another example of how our parliament can function. Members of the Oireachtas are capable of holding detailed hearings on sensitive and political matters in a respectful and tolerant manner." FIACH KELLY Document IINM000020130531e95v0004w

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M tin a  cr a ls  D f a ro il v o te o  a trb n o io n

News Martin calls for Dail vote on abortion

Fionnan Sheahan 457 words 31 May 2013 Irish Independent IINM 3; National 14,15 English (c) 2013 Independent Newspapers Ireland Ltd FIANNA Fail leader Micheal Martin believes there should be a Dail vote on the  abortion legislation - following his U-turn on his party adopting a policy. Fianna Fail will have a free vote on  abortion legislation, allowing party TDs and Senators to vote whichever  way they please in line with their conscience. Mr Martin himself will be voting for the legislation. And the party will not adopt a formal policy for or against ths e legislation, although its health spokesmen will table amendments. Mr Martin went back on his previous stance of wanting the party to adopt a position and ruling out a free vote as the party was split down the middle on the legislation. The prospect of there being no vote on the legislation was mooted in recent weeks if Fianna Fail was supporting it. Ten TDs need to specifically demand a vote and Fine Gael, the Labour Party and Sinn Fein are already supporting it. Such a scenario would help Fine Gael and Sinn Fein to keep TDs on board and not lose the party whip. However, Mr Martin did say he does think there needs to be a vote on the legislation. "I'd be worried if the sense got out there that politicians were trying to orchestrate a situation where there would be no vote. It would cause a lot of lot of resentment and anger," he said. Mr Martin said it was up to those opposing the legislation to decide if there would be a vote. The party leader was unable to bring enough of his TDs and Senators with him and was worried about losing some TDs and Senators if he forced the party to vote for the legislation. Proposal The proposal was agreed unanimously at a meeting of the parliamentary party. Mr Martin opened the meeting by proposing there would be a free vote. "Across the party there was a general disposition towards a vote of no confidence," he said. The Fianna Fail leader said he believes the legislation is restrictive and he will be supporting it. "The existing position is actually more liberal than what is proposed in the bill," he added. And he said he will stand over his support of the legislation with any members who want to debate it with him - particularly after the Fianna Fail ard fheis passed a motion calling for the party to vote against the legislation. "The ard fheis has never 100pc tied the hands of parliamentarians," he said. Mr Martin also said his party was going to set up a working group to figure out in what circumstances a vote of conscience would be allowed on issues in the future. Document IINM000020130531e95v0004x

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Kn e y h its b a ck V t ctia cn a a lto  se ri g n

Ireland Kenny hits back at Vatican call to resign

552 words 31 May 2013 The Irish Examiner  IRISEX English © Irish Examiner, 2013. Thomas Crosbie Media, TCH Taoiseach Enda Kenny has dismissed claims from a senior Vatican official that politicians should resign rather than support Ireland’s  abortion laws. A monsignor in Rome called for TDs and senators to quit as he drew parallels between the contentious reform and Nazism. But the Taoiseach hit back, warning Catholic hierarchy that it should not interfere in Irish Government business. "I’m a Catholic and I don’t interfere in the messages of the Church. "I have no comment to make on what the cardinal from the Vatican says. "I set out very clearly what it is we have to do in terms of our constitution and the law, and that’s to provide clarity and decisiveness. "This is about saving lives, not ending them," Mr Kenny said. Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin described the Vatican intervention as "unacceptable": "I’m surprised by this. It’s not acceptable. Making references to Nuremburg is totally unacceptable." As the Government pushes ahead with plans to legalise abortion where there is a threat of suicide by July, Monsignor Jacques Suaudeau in an interview with The Irish Catholic newspaper urged politicians to follow their conscience: "If the Prime Minister as a Catholic doesn’t want to impose his belief and the time has come for a more moderate line on abortion, then he resigns. "If you are faithful to your conviction, then you have to get out." His remarks come as the Oireachtas Committee on Health published two volumes of evidence it heard over  three days on the proposed abortion laws. Msgr Suaudeau, a scientific director of the Pontifical Academy for Life at the Vatican, added that politicians should not hide behind the claim that they are just doing their job. "Sometimes people forget Nuremberg. You cannot cover yourself with the cover of party discipline," he told The Irish Catholic newspaper. "Generally, if you are well-known and your party is proposing something that goes against your conscience you need to make it known, you need to speak. "Maybe they will ask you to abstain, sometimes people understand that you have an objection of conscience." Msgr Suaudeau warned practicing Catholic politicians who support the abortion changes are pushing themselves out of the church. He said they "cannot live in two houses" when it comes to the contentious issue. Clashing views on abortion dominated hearings at the health committee earlier this month. The report from the cross-party group will be given to Health Minister James Reilly to consider. If enacted, the Protection of Life during Pregnancy Bill 2013 will legalise abortion where there is a real and substantial risk to the life of the mother, including the threat of suicide. The bill aims to legislate for the X case judgement from Ireland’s Supreme Court, which found abortion is legal if there is a real and substantial risk to the life of the mother, including the risk of suicide. Page 9 of 54 © 2013 Factiva, Inc. All rights reserved.

 

The case was taken by a 14-year-old rape victim who became pregnant and was refused permission to travel for an abortion. The loosening of the rules is also intended to meet requirements from a European court decision that found a woman in remission from cancer should not have been forced to travel oversees for a termination. Document IRISEX0020130531e95v0000q

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Ah n i-ct o ice lo ic n g u a n e t b in a le c se  o a f  a lt o n b  ra m ity. T l h  n e e w le is la g tio sn h o ld o u rp d vi o rf e sca e w s e rh b a yb ’a o sc e g n n l fd ita e sct. .

Anti-choice logic untenable in cases of fatal abnormality. The new legislation should provide for  cases where a baby’s congenital defects are incompatible with life.

1,066 words 31 May 2013 The Irish Times IRTI 14 English (c) 2013, The Irish Times. I write for this newspaper for the first time as Deirdre Conroy, having retained my anonymity since February 2002 when I wrote in my former Irish name, Deirdre de Barra. On that occasion my letter to The Irish Times initiated a debate on fatal foetal abnormality (FFA) and the choice a woman should have to terminate a wanted pregnancy where the baby's congenital defects are incompatible with life. She should be able to give the baby a dignified burial, to limit the suffering on the mother and family. Since the outcome of the inquest into Savita Halappanavar's death I have been compelled to speak publicly about the State's defence in the case I took to the European Court of Human Rights, D v Ireland. I remind anti-choice campaigners that the baby I buried is not an  abortion. I haven't spoken of the long shadow cast over the last 11 years because I didn't know it would turn out like this. Being turned away from a Dublin hospital to seek help elsewhere; the subsequent need for an emergency operation when I returned; having to conceal the fact of a termination; and four years later to be told by the Irish thatinI should have gone court here to seek permission treatment here was has had a chilling effect onState my trust the legislators. Mytoprivacy and the protection of myfor children's privacy paramount at all times. The effects of the stigma in this country attached to any form of termination for any reason cannot be underestimated. Imagine how much worse it is to endure that stigma when your wanted baby has fatal chromosomal defects. The anti-choice argument leads back to one point: the protection of the unborn, even in the case of FFA; that a breath of life is mandatory no matter what cost to mother and family. I have sat through three days of Oireachtas health committee hearings and listened to countless media interviews only to hear mainly men pronounce unequivocally what I should have done, to suit their belief  system, to carry on growing a baby that would die, ignoring the impact on my "born" children. I reject Minister for Health James Reilly's recent comment, following advice from the Attorney General, that "it would be extremely difficult" or "nearly impossible" to include an amendment in the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill (based on the X case), to provide for cases of fatal foetal abnormality. I want to bring the following to their attention, which details what could be developed from X. In its defence in my case in thedevelopment State arguedinthat: ". . . the in the X case excludes graphically demonstrated potential for2005, judicial this larea."l ". .actual . whiledecision Article 40.3.3 plainly a liberal abortionthe regime, the courts are nonetheless unlikely to interpret this provision with remorseless logic, regardless of the personal circumstances of the woman seeking a termination in Ireland. The X case clearly holds out the possibility of the further development of the law in this area where, for example, the continuation of the pregnancy seems pointless or is not medically advised or where to do so would be oppressive and at odds with humanitarian considerations." The case in the European Court of Human Rights did not go ahead because I had not exhausted the remedies in the Irish courts. The year after that decision, 2007, a 17-year-old woman carrying a foetus with anencephaly sought remedy through the Irish courts. Instead of this providing the opportunity for the State to address FFA, as it had argued, the young woman had to endure spits and jeers entering and leaving the court. The remedy? She was allowed to travel to England for a termination. The protection of the unborn argument is untenable in the case of FFA. There is no protection afforded the unborn in the Constitution; the State allows women to leave with the blessing of the 13th Amendment to terminate pregnancies. As long as it doesn't take place on Irish soil. However, expert witness for the State Dr Gerard Hogan argued the definition of the "unborn" in its defence in D v Ireland.

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" . . . the argument that 'unborn' presupposes that the foetus could in fact be born alive could certainly have been advanced by the applicant [me] and, if advanced would have received serious consideration by an Irish court. If, factually, it had been established that the foetus here had no realistic prospect of being born alive, then at least a tenable argument could have been made to the effect that this foetus was not an 'unborn' for  the purposes of article 40.3.3. "Indeed, even if the foetus in that instance was an 'unborn' for the purpose of article 40.3.3, its right to life might not have actually been engaged in this case, given that it had no realistic prospect of life outside of the womb." In Ireland's supplemental observations to counsel, it declared: (i) No issue remotely comparable to the present case has ever been considered by the Irish courts; (ii) The issue of what constitutes "unborn" for the purposes of article 40.3.3 has not received any real judicial consideration. "Dr Hogan asserts that the argument that the protection afforded to the unborn attaches to the viable foetus is a matter that would have received serious consideration by an Irish court. It is respectfully submitted that Dr  Hogan's opinion is persuasive and indeed compelling." There is no longer an excuse to prolong the heartache for women and their families in a situation of a wanted pregnancy diagnosed with fatal foetal abnormality. There is clear evidence in D v Ireland that it could be legislated on. Had I attempted to exhaust my options in the Irish courts as upheld in the State's defence, based on the timing from X's injunction on February 7th, 1992, to decision on March 5th, 1992, I would have been 23 weeks pregnant by the time I had got a decision, with one dead foetus and one unviable twin. A woman died last year because she was forced to wait. Document IRTI000020130531e95v00020

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S  m u rp e e c  td o ru e i a n s b  tro i fo n  ilr  g rp n e a o w t m n tw a ih n u b ia v o fe  l e stu . E l S va l o d u co  r cti r te s ‘ sa b o lu te p im m ie e d n g ’a t a sin t o l in a g w  o rp d e c  e .ru

Supreme court denies abortion for ill pregnant woman with unviable foetus. El Salvador court cites ‘absolute impediment’ against allowing procedure.

516 words 31 May 2013 The Irish Times IRTI 10 English (c) 2013, The Irish Times. In a 4-1 ruling, the nation's highest court turned down a request from the 26-week-pregnant woman, who uses the name Beatriz to protect her identity, and medical staff, who fear prison if they go ahead with a procedure forbidden by one of the world's strict anti- abortion laws. The judges finally ruled on Wednesday that "the rights of the mother cannot be privileged over those" of the foetus, citing the national law's "absolute  abortion". impediment to authorise the practice of  abortion Anti-abortion campaignersIn El Salvador termination of a pregnancy is illegal even in the case of rape, incest and where there is a threat to the life of the mother. This law is widely supported in the Central American nation, but Beatriz's appeal has set bishops and anti- abortion campaigners against the health ministry and women's rights groups. Three sonograms have confirmed that the foetus is missing large parts of the brain and skull, a condition known as anencephaly. Babies with anencephaly live only a few days, at most. Beatriz has been diagnosed with lupus disease, which has weakened her kidneys. The maternity hospital has warned that the risks of haemorrhaging, kidney failure and maternal death will increase as the pregnancy progresses. In an interview with the Observer newspaper last month, the 22-year-old woman called on the outside world for help. "I'm not seriously ill, but I feel bad, because I get really tired and I'm short of breath ... I'd like them to interrupt the pregnancy now," she said. "I'd like people to respect my decision. I want to tell them I'd feel better if I was allowed to have an interruption." She has also recorded a video plea to the president. The health ministry has backed her appeal, along with the United Nations, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and pro-choice groups. But the church lobbied fiercely against an abortion. "This case should not be used to legislate against human life, especially against the unborn," the Episcopal Conference said, claiming that Beatriz was being used by pro-choice campaigners to weaken the country's prohibition. Medical testsAfter requesting additional medical tests, the court accepted that Beatriz suffered from lupus, but said the disease wasitunder control and the threat to theintervention mother's lifeatwas "notstage actualif Beatriz's or imminent, but rather  eventual". However, held out the prospect of medical a later life was deemed in immediate danger. Legal specialists have suggested that the law might tolerate a premature induction if the lives of both mother and foetus are threatened. Beatriz's lawyer, Víctor Hugo Mata, condemned the decision as "misogynistic", noting that the risks were increasing with each day that passed. "The court placed the life of the anencephalic baby over Beatriz's life," he told the New York Times: "Justice here does not respect the rights of women." - (Guardian service) Document IRTI000020130531e95v0001n

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S  crio e n  icrle  g ru  Isre ish cso i e ty   e ro h kt  o in rp so e p a d  tro ib o la sw n .

Senior cleric urges Irish society to rethink proposed abortion laws.

440 words 31 May 2013 The Irish Times IRTI 7 English (c) 2013, The Irish Times. Msgr Brendan Byrne, the diocesan administrator for the Diocese of Kildare & Leighlin, has appealed "not just to legislators but to all of Irish society" to rethink what is being proposed in the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill. As framed, he said, it was medically and ethically unsound in relation to the issue of suicide. Threat of suicide"The key question is whether intervening in pregnancy arising from the risk or threat of  suicide can ever be understood as 'life-saving'. The immediate answer to that question is that there is no expert psychiatric evidence that would support any such claim. No legal, medical, political or media commentary should be allowed to obscure that bare fact." He said he would suggest that we needed to go deeper into the issue of suicide to fully understand what was at stake with the proposed legislation. "We can never dismiss the threat of suicide, which must always be treated with compassion. However, for  anyone who supports the inclusion of the threat of suicide in this legislation on the grounds that 'it might save even one [mother's] life', please consider honestly the wider implications. Listen to the experts in suicide prevention who are warning that the proposed legislation will undermine their work as it will serve to 'normalise' suicide in Irish society." Meanwhile, Taoiseach Enda Kenny has refused to comment on the call by a senior Vatican official for  Oireachtas members who are Catholics to resign rather than support abortion legislation. Msgr Jacques Suaudeau, scientific director of the Pontifical Academy for Life at the Vatican, said if Catholic TDs "are faithful to your conviction, then you have to get out. "If a politician is being forced to be a formal co-operator with abortion, you leave the party, you get out," he told the Irish Catholic. Politicians could not just claim they were doing their jobs when voting for abortion, in a similar way to how Nazi officers said they were just following orders. Act is evil "If an act is evil and you receive an order to do it then you cannot do it," he said. "Sometimes people forget Nuremberg. You cannot cover yourself with the cover of party discipline ." Mr Kenny said his job was to deal with the Constitution and the laws. "I'm a Catholic and I don't interfere in the messages from the church," he said. "I have set out very clearly what it is we have to do here in terms of our Constitution and the law and that is to provide clarity and decisiveness." Document IRTI000020130531e95v00011

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V ica a n t icfo   sia l ys p lit a o ic sh n o ld  e u r ig n s  h tr  e a tr sn h u a p  a tro tro b io  l se n il o g ti n a

Vatican official says politicians should resign rather than support abortion legislation

107 words 30 May 2013 15:13 The Irish Examiner  IRISEX English © Irish Examiner, 2013. Thomas Crosbie Media, TCH A senior Vatican official said that Oireachtas members who describe themselves as Catholics, including Taoiseach Enda Kenny, should resign rather than support  abortion legislation. The Vatican's Scientific Director of 'the Pontifical Academy for Life' has told the Irish Catholic newspaper that Catholics TDs and Senators who vote in favour of  abortion are pushing themselves out of the Church. Monsignor Jacques Suaudeau also told the paper that politicians cannot hide behind a claim that they are just doing their duty, likening that to the Nuremberg Defence used by Nazi officers who said they were following orders. Document IRISEX0020130530e95u0028l

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Kn e ve a e y's o b tio a n  r a st n ce  ile sr o n a w p ty r

News Keaveney's abortion stance riles own party

Michael Brennan 268 words 30 May 2013 Irish Independent IINM 3; National 20 English (c) 2013 Independent Newspapers Ireland Ltd LABOUR rebel chairman Colm Keaveney has been criticised by his own party for declaring his intention to vote against the Government''s  abortion legislation. The Galway East TD, who lost the party whip for  opposing the social-welfare cuts in the last Budget, is the only Labour member so far to oppose it. A Labour source said that people in the party were "seething over it". They are complaining that he ran for election under the Labour manifesto, which committed to legislate for  abortion where women were suicidal. Labour Waterford TD Ciara Conway said: "I think people are very annoyed with him. He talks about representing the views of grassroots Labour members - he absolutely does not represent the views of  members." But Mr Keaveney said he had publicly aired his concerns about the lack of time limits in the draft abortion legislation. The finalisation of abortion laws will move a step closer today when an Oireachtas committee publishes its report on hearings on the issue. But the committee won't be making any formal recommendations to the Coalition following its three days of  hearings on abortion a fortnight ago. The committee held hearings into the Draft Heads of the Bill of the Protection of Life in Maternity Bill, 2013, hearing views from a series of medical and legal experts. Health Minister Dr James Reilly will proceed to finalise the legislation, which is expected to be published in the next fortnight. The Joint Committee on Health and Children will publish a 50-page report today summarising the various submissions. Document IINM000020130530e95u0004x

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e b h T a  o tir e d n e tb . a

The abortion debate.

1,107 words 29 May 2013 The Irish Times IRTI 15 English (c) 2013, The Irish Times. Sir, - We believe fatal foetal abnormalities should be included in the proposed Protection of Life during Pregnancy Bill 2013. Ireland argued in D v Ireland at the European Court of Human Rights in 2006 that fatal foetal abnormalities could be argued to be covered by Article 40.3.3. There is a moral responsibility on the Government to vindicate that position. Dr Ruth Fletcher, of Keele University, in her submission to the Joint Committee on Health and Children, recommended that the unborn should be defined not to mean those foetuses which have lethal abnormalities and will not have a future independent life. Every year, women with fatal foetal anomaly pregnancies face inhuman treatment by being forced to make the harrowing journey to the Foetal Medicine Unit in Liverpool; without compassion from the Irish State. They travel at significant personal, financial and emotional cost, often in isolation, abandoned by the Irish health services. Such women require non-judgmental care in a familiar supportive environment, yet must face the tragic bureaucracy of having to arrange the return of their child's remains to Ireland, if they choose. The stigma of travelling abroad may be heightened by the current wording of the Heads of Bill. This is because such Irish women will receive a medical treatment which is deemed a criminal offence if performed in the Republic, with up to 14 years imprisonment. The Irish College of General Practitioners supported a motion at its AGM calling on the Government to include within the proposed legislation the provision that women who are pregnant with non-viable foetal anomalies have access to the choice of legal abortion in the Republic. We request that the Joint Committee on Health and Children invite representatives of Terminations For  Medical Reasons and Deirdre Conroy (D v Ireland) to make a presentation to the committee as soon as is possible. Such women should not be forced to travel outside Ireland for a termination. Women's voices and experiences are entirely absent from the current abortion debate. We hope that the joint committee will redress this imbalance as a matter of urgency. - Yours, etc, Dr MARY FAVIER, Dr MARK MURPHY & Dr  PEADAR O'GRADY Doctors for Choice Ireland; CLAIRE FOGARTY, Nurses and Midwives for Choice Ireland; AMELIA REID & ROBERT OBARA, Medical Students for Choice Ireland; JANE FISHER, Director, Ante-natal Results and Choices London; Dr CLARE Chairman, Royal College of General Practitioners; Dr WENDY CHAVKIN, Global DoctorsGERADA, For Choice, New York; MARGE BERER, Editor, Reproductive Health Matters London; Prof VERONICA O'KEANE, Trinity College Dublin; Prof WENDY SAVAGE, Doctors for a Woman's Choice on Abortion, London; JOYCE ARTHUR, Executive Director, Abortion Rights Coalition Canada; CASEY BURCHELL, Committee Member, Reproductive Choice Australia; LESLIE CANNOLD, President, ProChoice Victoria; JENNY EJLAK, President, ProChoice Tasmania; CAIT CALCUTT & KATE MARSH, Children by Choice, Australia; Dr MORGAN HEALY & ALISON McCULLOCH, Abortion Law Reform Association New Zealand, C/o Parnell Square East, Dublin 1. Sir, - There is grave concern among doctors across the specialties about the proposed legislation for  termination of pregnancy in the case of threatened suicide on the part of the mother. Many of us have practised in jurisdictions where such legislation was the first step towards what has become abortion on demand. Attempts to revisit legislation and reduce the number of abortions by restricting the grounds on which termination of pregnancy may be performed, such as gestational age, have been fraught and largely fruitless. Those who think there will be a second chance, whether by so-called sunset clause or  otherwise, are naive. We would like to make a clear statement to the members of the Oireachtas that there is no evidence that termination is the treatment for threatened suicide in pregnancy and that if they vote for the proposed legislation, they will be voting for the legalisation of abortion in this country. Page 17 of 54 © 2013 Factiva, Inc. All rights reserved.

 

Those members of the Oireachtas who believe that they are only doing what the Constitution permits since the X case judgment, should seek to examine the psychiatric evidence heard by the Supreme Court in 1992. They will find none. They might alternatively examine the statements of the psychiatrists called before the Oireachtas Health Committee hearings in 2012, to see what evidence there is that might support the Supreme Court decision. They will find none. We would also remind them that the World Health Organisation consistently places Ireland in the top five countries for women's safety in pregnancy, out of 171 countries surveyed. This has been the case for the past 25 years and without abortion. We would urge members of the Oireachtas respectfully, but robustly, to vote against the proposed legislation. - Yours, etc, Dr ANN BARRY, GP, Dublin; Dr ANNE KENNEDY, GP, Mayo; Dr ANNE RYAN, GP, Kildare; ANNE-MARIE LEECH, GP, Wexford; Dr BRIDGET O'BRIEN, GP, Kerry; CLIODHNA DONNELLY, Palliative Care, Galway; Dr CRISTINA BORDINC, GP, Wexford; Dr DANIEL PURCELL, GP, Kildare; Prof DAVID RYAN, Maxillo-Facial Surgeon, Dublin; Dr DEIRDRE GLEESON, Occupational Health Physician /GP, Kildare; Prof EAMONN O'DWYER, Obstetrician Gynaecologist, Galway; Dr EILEEN REILLY, Obstetrician Gynaecologist, Galway; Dr EOGHAN DE FAOITE, NCHD, Dublin; Dr FELIM T DONNELLY, GP, Galway; Dr  GEORGE FULLER, GP, Cork; Dr HELEN T O'BRIEN, GP, Dublin; Dr JAMES SHEEHAN, Orthopaedic Surgeon, Galway; Dr JANINA LYONS, GP, Dublin; Dr JOHN C KEHOE, GP, Kildare; Dr JOHN KEHOE SNR, GP, Kildare; Dr JOHN MONAGHAN, Obstetrician Gynaecologist, Galway; Dr JONATHAN JACOB, GP, Carlow; Dr JUDE McSHARRY, GP, Sligo; Dr MAIRE MIRIUM DUGGAN, Obstetrician Gynaecologist, Dublin; Dr MAIRE Nic GHEARAILT, GP, Wicklow; Dr MAIREAD MacCONNAILL, GP, Cork; Dr MARIE THERESE McKENNA, GP, Donegal; Dr MARIE TWOMEY, Palliative Care, Dublin; Dr MARY P CARROLL, Radiologist, Donegal; Dr MAUREEN BRENNAN, GP, Dublin; Dr MAURICE FAHY, GP, Kerry; Dr MICHAEL SALTER, GP Wicklow; Dr MIRIUM HOGAN, GP, Kilkenny; Dr MURROGH BIRMINGHAM, GP, Donegal; Dr MYLES MONAGHAN, Anaesthetics Trainee, Dublin; Dr OLIVE PIERSE, GP, Kerry; Dr ORLA HALPENNY, GP, Dublin; Dr PASCHAL O'DEA, GP, Carlow; Dr PATRICIA O'TOOLE, GP, Carlow; Dr PATRICK KELLY, GP Trainee, Waterford; Dr PATRICK McSHARRY, GP, Sligo; Dr PAULINE BURKE, Public Health, Limerick; Dr  PAULINE KANE, GP, Dublin; Dr PETER QUINN, GP, Cork; Dr PHIL BOYLE, Fertility Specialist, Galway; Dr  PHILLIP AHERNE, GP, Kildare; Dr RAVI KUMAR, GP, Wexford; Dr RITA O'CONNOR, General Medicine, Clare; Dr SEAMUS KENNEDY, GP, Mayo; Dr SEAN O'DOMHNAILL, Psychiatrist, Kildare; Dr SINEAD KELLY, Palliative Care, Dublin; Dr SUSAN DEACON-KING, GP, Kildare; Dr TREVOR HAYES, Obstetrician Gynaecologist, Kilkenny; Dr URSULA NUSGEN, Microbiologist, Dublin; Dr WILLIAM P FOX, GP, Westmeath; Dr WILLIAM PURCELL, GP, C/o Doctors for Life Ireland, Millennium Park, Naas, Co Kildare. Document IRTI000020130529e95t0001y

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Ru e rlyi le s o t a trb u o io n a fin   a lt b n a o m  r citya l e s s

News Reilly rules out abortion in fatal abnormality cases

130 words 28 May 2013 Irish Independent IINM 3; 16National English (c) 2013 Independent Newspapers Ireland Ltd HEALTH Minister James Reilly has ruled out extending the proposed legislation on  abortion to allow for  termination of pregnancy in cases where there are foetal abnormalities, writes Eilish O'Regan. He was responding to calls by Fine Gael backbenchers to examine legal advice that says allowing  abortion in cases of fatal foetal abnormalities would be compatible with the Constitution. A campaign group, Termination for Medical Reasons, obtained the legal advice and put their case to the TDs. "It is a desperate thing for a mother to know she is carrying a child who cannot possibly survive," Dr Reilly said. "But I have been advised by my department that, under the Constitution, it would be difficult to accommodate the need for that." Document IINM000020130528e95s0001b

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P sitcl n o  t e g h h cu  sirta co n e g a a in

Letters Politicising the eucharist once again

210 words 28 May 2013 The Irish Examiner  IRISEX English © Irish Examiner, 2013. Thomas Crosbie Media, TCH The next Catholic primate, Archbishop Eamon Martin, has controversially stated that TDs who support the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill are excommunicating themselves and should be denied communion. The archbishop’s comments add no clarity to the debate and are politicising the eucharist once again. Legislators are introducing this legislation because they have an obligation to do so because of a decision by the Supreme Court. Their intention is not to aid  abortion, as accused by the archbishop — instead their  intention is to provide legal clarity for medical practitioners when they are faced with difficult medical decisions about saving life when treating a seriously ill pregnant woman. I would like to ask the archbishop a question. I also believe the sacrament of Communion is a very sacred one. How does he feel about those senior clerics who knowingly transferred clerical abusers to other  parishes, not only resulting in their continued abuse of children, but it also allowed them to continue administering the sacrament of Communion? Does he think that those senior clerics who "knowingly" took this course of should beI await allowed either administer the sacrament of Communion or present themselves foraction Communion? historesponse. John Cushnahan Lisnagry Co Limerick Document IRISEX0020130528e95s0002r 

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ih p sB o sa h a e v b o n tig a l to n d a m o sh n  p i  o -r o b  rtio a n p li a o tic s. In tish d e ty o u h tf  a C e o h t icto l  se ri h st cive a il n a wd o y te h b la o e w th e f  u ch h c r .

Bishops have an obligation to admonish pro-abortion politicians. It is the duty of the Catholic to resist the civil law and obey the law of the church.

736 words 28 May 2013 The Irish Times IRTI 14 English (c) 2013, The Irish Times. God's law is clear and unambiguous: thou shall not kill. Human life is sacred because, from the moment of  conception until its natural end, it involves the action of God. The fifth commandment forbids direct and intentional killing as gravely sinful.  Abortion is evil; it is the killing of a defenceless baby in the womb and is a sin against the commandment. The church has a serious obligation to speak against  abortion. The consequences of remaining silent are grave. Those bishops and priests who refuse to take Catholic pro-abortion politicians to task for their words and actions embolden such individuals to commit even greater  acts of evil against human life and dignity. A failure to call evil by its name inevitably leads to the spread of  more evil until eventually society accepts evil acts as normal. The legislation that is being proposed by Fine Gael is far worse than the UK abortion Act where more than 7.5 million preborn have perished since Thisused exceeds size ofIf some of the genocides in humanbabies history. Then there are the1968. methods in thethe killings. you want to most knowinfamous what commonly happens to the preborn baby while getting aborted, watch Silent Scream or Eclipse of Reason films on YouTube. There would be public outrage were the same procedure done to an animal. Sometimes the politicians will justify their stance by claiming they cannot impose their religious views on others. Enda Kenny has even claimed he has a duty to legislate for abortion but it is simply not possible for a Catholic to reconcile his faith with support for abortion no matter how limited he believes it to be. Whenever there is conflict between civil law and the moral law of the church, it is always the duty of the Catholic to resist the civil law and obey the law of the church. As Pope John Paul II explained in his encyclical Evangelium Vitae: "Indeed, from the moral standpoint, it is never licit to co-operate formally in evil. Such co-operation occurs when an action, either by its very nature or  by the form it takes in a concrete situation, can be defined as a direct participation in an act against innocent human life or a sharing in the immoral intention of the person committing it. This co-operation can never be  justified either by invoking respect for the freedom of others or by appealing to the fact that civil law permits it or requires it." The Second Vatican Ecumenical Council said: "God, the Lord of life, has entrusted to men the noble mission of safeguarding life, and human life must be protected with the utmost care from the moment of conception: Abortion and infanticide are abominable crimes" (Gaudium et Spes, No. 51.3). Pope Francis when a cardinal in Argentina issued a clear statement regarding the consequences of  supporting abortion - disallowing Communion for anyone who facilitates an abortion, including politicians. He was upholding Cardinal Ratzinger's instruction that persistently pro-abortion politicians or public figures must not be admitted to Communion until they publicly repent. This year, His Eminence Raymond Cardinal Burke, prefect of the supreme tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, told the Catholic Voice newspaper: "With regard to Canon 915, it states that those who obstinately persist in manifest grave sin should not be admitted to receive Holy Communion. There can be no question that the practice of abortion is among the gravest of manifest sins and therefore once a Catholic politician has been admonished that he should not come forward to receive Holy Communion, as long as he continues to support legislation which fosters abortion or other  intrinsic evils, then he should be refused Holy Communion." Those bishops who have the courage to admonish politicians on this critical issue do it because it is their duty and because they are being faithful to the teaching of the church. The faithful of Ireland are right to expect their bishops to speak about the sinfulness of abortion, which is the social justice issue of our time. Anthony Murphy is the publisher of the Catholic Voice newspaper and founding member of the Irish chapterof  the international lay apostolate CatholicsUnited for the Faith. Page 21 of 54 © 2013 Factiva, Inc. All rights reserved.

 

Document IRTI000020130528e95s0002i

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w 0 e ka -1 c a p m  fg n i  N 'ro o v' te  g e ts d n  w u re ya

News 10-week campaign for 'No' vote gets under way

Louise Hogan 366 words 27 May 2013 Irish Independent IINM 3; National 18 English (c) 2013 Independent Newspapers Ireland Ltd THE Catholic Church has begun a 10-week campaign to deliver "targeted messages" to parishioners over the Government's controversial  abortion legislation. The latest move against the new bill will see a weekly newsletter detailing the church's teaching on life sent to parishes for the priest to disperse the core messages from the pulpit. A spokesman for the Catholic Church said over the next 10 weeks the newsletters would contain "targeted messages on the Catholic Church's teaching on life". "The 10 editions will be sent out, one a week, as an information bulletin to assist priest and Catholic Church-goers on the church's position," said a spokesman, adding it had set up a website www.chooselife2013.ie to include personal testimony. www.chooselife2013.ie to "It will challenge some of the myths expressed in relation to the legislation and clarify the church's teaching on fundamental aspects of life." Cardinal Sean Brady has indicated the church may launch a legal challenge against the bill. Letter This comes as a large number of pro-life doctors have put their names to a letter warning there was "grave concern among doctors" about the proposed legislation for termination of pregnancy in the case of a mother threatening suicide. Dr Sean O Domhnaill, an HSE psychiatrist and director of the Life Institute, sent a letter to the Irish Independent signed by more than 50 GPs, obstetricians and surgeons. "We don't want to be abortionists. We don't want to be called in to sign off on what will essentially be death warrants for children who would otherwise be born perfectly healthy," said Dr O Domhnaill, who last week addressed the Oireachtas Health committee. Dr O Domhnaill, who launched a 'Doctors for Life' group, argued the legislation was "frightening" from a doctor's perspective and should be scrapped. At a glance with a "cold legal eye", he argued there was no time limit on the stage the abortion could be performed at, making it "one of the most liberal pieces of legislation" in relation to abortion in western Europe. FULL TEXT OF THE 'DOCTORS FOR LIFE' LETTER: PAGE 26 Document IINM000020130527e95r00023

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Co a rfl   m rte a n i io st b n to e l e a wd o in a tf  b a l  m ro n a lity sca e s

Ireland Call for terminations to be allowed in fatal abnormality cases

393 words 27 May 2013 The Irish Examiner  IRISEX English © Irish Examiner, 2013. Thomas Crosbie Media, TCH A number of Fine Gael backbenchers are urging James Reilly, the health minister, to examine legal advice which says that allowing  abortion in cases of fatal foetal abnormalities would be compatible with the Constitution. Under current Irish law, women have to carry a foetus to birth even if it will not live beyond delivery. These circumstances are not included in proposed laws allowing for abortion in limited circumstances because, according to the Government, it would be in breach of the constitutional protection of the right to life of the unborn, and therefore, would require a referendum. Now, a campaign group, Terminations for Medical Reasons, have obtained legal advice to the contrary. The group presented its advice last week to a cross- party group of TDs and senators. After the meeting, Dublin South-Central TD Catherine Byrne contacted Dr Reilly to ask him to consider including fatal foetal abnormalities as legal grounds for a termination in the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill. There are about 1,500 such cases diagnosed in Ireland each year and it is estimated that, in 80% of such cases, a termination is carried out abroad. "I do think we owe it to these women not to have them endure a pregnancy that they know there is not going to be any life at the end of," said Ms Byrne. She said she was moved by the "precious but horrific stories" of women who carried their babies back from England in boxes after terminating their non-viable pregnancies. "That is not what civilised society is about," she said. She said that if it was not possible to include fatal foetal abnormalities in the legislation, the Government should go back to it before 2016. United Left Alliance TD Richard Boyd Barrett, who chaired the meeting, is to draw up an amendment to the proposed legislation to include such cases. He revealed at the meeting that he and his former partner had lost a baby girl shortly after her birth in 2002. He said the fatal condition was not diagnosed during the pregnancy, but "one thing that myself and my ex-partner were absolutely clear about at the time, in this awful situation, was that if we had have known, we would certainly have wanted to have had that choice". Document IRISEX0020130527e95r0001v

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M ca o le  r  a tr n ty i o sn u st f e ic to n a sh e  lp se il o g ti n a . o W ce ld u sb a e b a  o tir te h n sico h t m n e  a lro p x  n e r o ie e c o w f  e mn .

Moral certainty is not sufficient to shape legislation. We could base abortion ethicson the moral experience of women.

Desmond M Clarke 786 words 27 May 2013 The Irish Times IRTI 14 English (c) 2013, The Irish Times. The current debate about  abortion is fundamentally an ethical disagreement and, second, a political disagreement about how a State should legislate when citizens hold diametrically opposite views about when a termination of pregnancy is morally permissible. That suggests that those who are absolutely certain about their ethical views - which are evidently not shared by many others - should reflect on the source and certainty of their convictions. Religious dogma Archbishop Eamon Martin spoke recently about Catholics "putting faith into practice" and not leaving "our faith 'outside the room'" when they discuss legislation. No one can argue with faith. The history of religions shows that sects have held the most irrational and misogynistic beliefs, and have attributed them to a god. Of course, non-religious have held implausible beliefs, but they cannot protect them isfrom examination by appealingpeople to faith. Thus theequally distinctive feature of a religious ethics is that its source claimed to be divine and therefore not open to debate or rational examination. As Bishop Martin said, "no individual, no majority and no state can ever create, modify or destroy" what he believes is a natural right. But, as John Locke argued in his An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1689), it is impossible to certify the divine origin of religious ethics without circularity; religious people believe that their teaching is inspired, and then believe that teaching because they believe it was inspired. Ethics When confronted by religious diversity, citizens have to fall back on common human values. Luckily, most human beings agree about what is valuable to them. For example, we value our health, our continued living (with qualifications), our friendships, and various kinds of liberty. Although there is no guarantee in advance, as Isaiah Berlin argued, that all our values will fit together neatly, philosophical ethics is an attempt to provide a systematic and coherent account of human values that are widely shared. It's almost inevitable, however, that some of our moral convictions clash with others; when that happens, we are not certain what to do. But uncertainty is not a sign of error here. It's more like the opposite. It also suggests that we should be open to changing our minds in the light of experience or new technologies, and that what may look like a principled approach is possibly dogma masquerading as divine truth. For example, there was something truly bizarre, three decades ago, about celibate male clergy discussing the details of women's menstrual cycles and urging a parliament to criminalise some kinds of family planning as "unnatural", thereby supporting the enactment of the Health (Family Planning) Act, 1979. In retrospect, most people regard the Catholic Church's views in Humanae Vitae as (at best) mistaken. The church that taught "the direct interruption of the generative process" is intrinsically evil exposes once again the unreliability of its moral teaching. Human lifeThose who are opposed to any termination of a pregnancy, no matter what the circumstances, speak about taking a "human life" and thereby equate a termination with taking the life of another person. The Constitution similarly speaks vaguely about "the right to life of the unborn" (in Irish: ceart na mbeo gan breith), as if "the unborn" were already a person who just happened not to be born. There are familiar reasons, however, for not accepting that every human life is that of a person from the moment of conception, and that the rights and moral entitlements attributed to persons apply to human life from conception. We can address ethical disagreement by consulting the faith of citizens, as Archbishop Martin recommends. Alternatively, we could rely on the moral experience of women as the primary source on which to base an ethics of family planning or abortion. If male clergy do not share women's experience or moral insights, they might at least refrain from demanding that women be criminalised, on the basis of uncertain religious Page 25 of 54 © 2013 Factiva, Inc. All rights reserved.

 

convictions that depend on faith. Otherwise, they are using the law to enforce their own religious beliefs on others who do not share their faith. In a republic, politicians should not enforce the religious beliefs of some citizens on others, nor should they respond to threats of excommunication that exceed the provisions of Canon Law. Ideally, Irish citizens should be offered an opportunity to remove article 40.3.3º from the Constitution, so that a democratically elected Oireachtas can legislate for those limited circumstances in which a termination of pregnancy is ethically permissible. Desmond M Clarke is emeritus professor of philosophy at UCC and a member of the Royal Irish Academy Document IRTI000020130527e95r0001p

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l sin a F e u iz e s o r d f  u s r th g a u d ce in  a trb o io  .  sirIh o n we mo cn u tin to e to b a d in g u  r u s a h c M is o rp o st a d n l ifM    isre p n to o n e e t tn in e . r

Fall in seizures of drugs that induce abortion. Irish women continue to obtain drugs such as Misoprostol and Mifepristone on internet.

Fiona Gartland 677 words 27 May 2013 The Irish Times IRTI 8 English (c) 2013, The Irish Times. The number of  abortion  abortion-inducing drugs seized by Customs coming in to Ireland has dropped by more than half in the last four years, according to new figures supplied by the Irish Medicines Board and the Revenue Commissioners. But Irish women continue to obtain drugs on the internet to induce  abortion, including through a women's website which posts the medication to addresses in Northern Ireland nominated by women from the Republic. In 2009, more than 1,200 tablets containing Misoprostol and Mifepristone, the most common abortion-inducing drugs, were seized from 62 detentions by customs and the Irish Medicines Board. This fell to 671 tablets from 40 detentions in 2010, to 635 tablets from 28 detentions in 2011 and to 487 tablets in 2012 from 25 detentions. So far this year, 194 tablets have been seized. The sale of prescription only such medicines orderinisthe prohibited Ireland, including supply via the internet. When a package containing a drugbyis mail detected post it isindetained and the board makes contact with the person to whom it is addressed and advises them of the legal position. The packages are then destroyed. The board also works with agencies in other countries to stop or curtail supplies. No guarantees A spokeswoman for the board emphasised the unregulated nature of the internet and said there could be no guarantees that items bought online were "effective, safe or of an acceptable standard or  quality". The board was concerned about "the potential risks for patient health associated with online purchase of any prescription medicine and in relation to any attempt to self-medicate". Asked why the number of seizures had come down, the spokeswoman said it could be attributed to easier  access to the morning-after pill in Ireland, emergency contraception taken after unprotected sex to prevent pregnancy. Asked whether reductions in staff or resources might have affected seizures, she described levels of detentions of illegal medicines as "consistent". This was as a result of "proactive action" between the board and revenue. There is evidence that such drugs are getting through to Irish women. A senior figure in a UK-based organisation which provides abortions to 2,000 women a year from Ireland, said a percentage attend clinics in the UK having self-administered abortifacients to little or no effect. "The problem with women getting drugs on the internet is about being able to have confidence that the medication they get will bring about an end to the pregnancy," she said. Women who obtain the drug from certain established organisations can be "pretty confident" they are getting the product they expect, she said. Women who have tried self-administration and then travel usually have obtained the drugs from a different source. When the right medication is taken at the right dose and time, it is "a safe and effective way to induce an abortion", she said. "The problem is in a country where women are resorting to obtaining medication themselves and administering it themselves, there is no adequate infrastructure around them to help them if they need help," the senior figure said. Inducing abortions A spokeswoman for a pro-choice group in the Republic said they were aware women were inducing abortions in Ireland and anecdotally "hear it is happening more and more". "Women are having difficulties raising the money to travel to England," she said. "It costs €90 compared to between €400 and €1,000 to travel. Until the abortion ban is lifted in Ireland, we will see more of this and we will also see backstreet abortions." In a statement to The Irish Times an organisation based in the Netherlands said it had been supplying Misoprostol and Mifepristone for more than five years. "We ask for a €90 donation because that is the Page 27 of 54 © 2013 Factiva, Inc. All rights reserved.

 

minimum amount that is required to help a woman with an unwanted pregnancy to access a safe abortion," it said. Document IRTI000020130527e95r0000z

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Ne e slw  tsre a ys a t e S ist  o rc n si g mu o l  cb ra io n .

Newsletter says State is crossing moral rubicon.

Patsy McGarry 122 words 27 May 2013 The Irish Times IRTI 5 English (c) 2013, The Irish Times. A newsletter being circulated by the Catholic Communications Office at Maynooth says it is "untrue" to state "that there is no change to the law on  abortion in Ireland" being planned by the Government. It adds: "If there was no change this legislation (Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill) would not have been published. The proposed legislation gives practical effect to the X case decision which permits  abortion up to birth where suicide is threatened. Ireland is about to cross a fundamental moral rubicon - the direct and intentional killing of the innocent." In this newspaper last Friday, Catholic theologian Prof Seán Freyne challenged the Coadjutor Archbishop of  Armagh Eamon Martin on this matter. Document IRTI000020130527e95r0000m

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Co a  l a n  s u w o sd h tl o y u a t o o p f  lsitc; xE c m o n u m ica tn e l isla g g srto h wo b a a kc  tro ib o  i u n sd u io b sa , e u g  r G in s M a zn ie e s

Editorial Canon law should stay out of politics; Excommunicating legislators who back abortion is dubious, argues Gina Menzies

Gina Menzies 918 words 26 May 2013 The Sunday Times ST 1; Eire 15 English © 2013 Times Newspapers Ltd. All rights reserved Within the past two weeks, the current primate of All Ireland, Cardinal Seán Brady, and his successor, Archbishop Eamon Martin, have threatened Irish legislators with excommunication if they support the Protection of Life During Pregnancy bill. This is not the first time members of the hierarchy have threatened legislators. Recent cases in America and Brazil also highlighted a heavy-handed and questionable application of canon law. In 2009 in America, Sister Margaret McBride, a member of St Joseph's Hospital ethics committee, was excommunicated for supporting a life-saving abortion in a Catholic hospital in Arizona. The woman in question, 11 weeks pregnant mother of fourand children, was mortality suffering rate. from Eventually acute pulmonary hypertension. Such a condition weakens theand heart and lungs has a high Sr Margaret was reinstated and the abortion was considered to have taken place under the double-effect principle. In Catholic teaching this principle recognises that the primary intent was to save the woman's life and the loss of the foetus was not directly intended. In the same year in Brazil, Archbishop Don Jose Cardoso Sobrinho of Recife excommunicated a mother, a doctor and the medical team who helped a nine-year-old child, pregnant with twins, to have a termination. The child's medical team said she was too physically immature to continue with the pregnancy. The girl had been repeatedly raped by her stepfather. The rapist stepfather, though imprisoned, was not excommunicated. In the new code of canon law, published in 1983, Article 1398 excommunicates automatically a woman who has an abortion, or anyone who helps her. There is no specific reference to legislators. Other offences in the code which trigger automatic excommunication include violence against the Pope, sacrilege against the sacred host, consecrating a bishop without authority, or violating the seal of confession. Similar sanctions are not prescribed for terrorists, murderers, rapists, or sexual abusers of children. Serial child rapist Fr Lawrence Murphy of St John's School for the Deaf in St Francis, Wisconsin, as shown in the movie Mea Maxima Culpa, continues to say mass. Canon 1323, however, states, that no one can be excommunicated who is under 16, does not know such a law exists, was forced into the act, acted under fear, or lacked the use of reason. Hence, ignorance of the law is a defence. It is not clear whether a politician who votes for abortion, or supports funding for it, is an accomplice. The other category of excommunication is one imposed by the Pope. This happened to Fr Tissa Balasuriya, a Sri Lankan liberation theologian and human-rights activist, in 1997 because of his book Mary and Human Liberation. He was subsequently reconciled, although he continued to argue for the rights of women within the church until his death last January. More than 100 theologians were silenced, expelled or banished under  the reign of Cardinal Ratzinger, who became Pope Benedict XVI, when he was head of the Congregation for  the Doctrine of the Faith. These theologians have excommunication hanging over them if they break their  silence. The list includes Hans Kung, Charles Curran, Bishop Helder Camara and Irish theologians Seán Fagan, Tony Flannery, Owen O'Sullivan and Gerard Moloney. Catholic TDs can take heart from politicians in Uruguay in 2011, who voted to decriminalise abortion in the first 12 weeks, and in the first 14 weeks in the case of rape. Last year the Uruguayan bishops' conference said lawmakers would not be excommunicated as they did not take part in the actual procedure of an abortion. Most moral theologians do not hold that politicians who legislate for abortion are subject to automatic excommunication. It is of course possible that an individual bishop or priest could refuse Page 30 of 54 © 2013 Factiva, Inc. All rights reserved.

 

communion to any individual, although it seems generally available to murderers, rapists, child abusers and terrorists. Recent threats from Brady and Martin echo those made by Raymond Burke, bishop of La Crosse in Wisconsin in 2004, who instructed politicians who supported abortion or euthanasia not to receive communion. The politicians pointed out they had a duty to represent all their constituents. One congressman said while he respected the efforts of the church to influence him he would vote with his conscience. Burke is now a senior cardinal at the Vatican. Last February he stated that in accordance with Canon 915, priests should exclude from receiving communion politicians who support abortion. This canon states those who persist in grave sin should not be admitted to communion. If this is to be followed through in relation to abortion, whole swathes of the Irish public and legislators across the world are excommunicated. However, it seems perfectly acceptable to the church for murderers, rapists, terrorists and torturers to approach the altar. Is this a consistent application of canon law? In 1983, 416,136 Irish citizens voted against including Article 40.3.3 in our constitution. In 1992, 1,079,297 voted against removing the risk of suicide as a risk to the woman's life. In 2002, 629,041 voted against removing the threat of suicide as a ground for legal abortion and introducing penalties of up to 12 years in jail for those performing or assisting abortions. Are all these citizens to be excommunicated? Gina Menzies is a bachelor of divinity from Milltown Institute of Theology and Philosophy and has an MSC in medical ethics and law Document ST00000020130526e95q0007d

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i sio vD n e Bb l:A  tio r cn o p mm o  r iw se p li se a l o n b o y d

Pat Leahy Division Bell: Abortion compromise will please nobody

988 words 26 May 2013 Sunday SBPM Business Post English Copyright (c) 2013 Sunday Business Post; Source: World Reporter (TM) Even 20 years on from the X case, Ireland is still not comfortable with this kind of philosophical and ethical debate, writes Pat Leahy. Last week saw the latest instalment in the long and tortuous road to legislation on  abortion. The Oireachtas committee on health heard and reheard the evidence of experts in various branches of medicine and law as they deliberated principally on the "suicide clause" -- the provision in law for access to  abortion where a pregnant woman is suicidal and where the risk of suicide can only be averted by terminating the pregnancy. So far, the suicide clause argument is largely being fought on the grounds of practicality -- is abortion a treatment for suicide, will the law be abused to provide for widespread abortion, how should suicidality be  judged, and so on. But it's not really a medical problem, or a psychiatric one, despite what the medics said last week. It's a philosophical and ethical issue. Ireland tends not to be comfortable with this type of debate. Really, the suicide question is simply a proxy issue -- the battleground, as it were -- where two fundamentally opposed political groups and philosophical schools of thought are fighting it out. That's why I wonder if we shouldn't be listening to the evidence of ethicists as much as psychiatrists. The point at issue is the right to life of the unborn/foetus. The pro-choice view is grounded in a belief that women should have the right to control their own bodies and that right should be grounded in law. It holds that because a woman's rights in these matters are paramount and private, that she should be entitled to terminate her pregnancy -- which after all takes place entirely within her own body -- at least up to the point of  clear viability. The opposing view holds that the unborn/foetus is a human being. And that means, simply, that its life cannot be terminated on the wishes of another. The fact that this human life is located within the womb of a woman on whom it is entirely dependant for its life may be inconvenient, but it does not eliminate its personhood or its rights. There are differences about where life begins, whether at conception or implantation. Common law pointed to the time of "quickening" in the womb, when the woman first felt the movement of the foetus. But all who espouse this point of view believe that the life in the womb has rights of its own. These two views are entirely irreconcilable, and there is no point in pretending that a middle way is possible between them philosophically, whatever about politically. That's why the inevitable compromise will please nobody. The pro-life view has one enormous political advantage in the current debate: Article 40:3:3 of the Constitution. It explicitly recognises the "right to life of the unborn". That is why it can only be the threat to the life -- rather than the health -- of the mother that allows for an abortion. It is why calls for the current legislation to allow for abortion in the case of rape, or incest, or fatal foetal abnormalities, are utterly unrealistic. They can't happen without a referendum to change Article 40:3:3. And though Ireland is a very pro-life country by international comparisons, that constitutional position, I think, is more anti-abortion than the general state of opinion in the country on the issue. That's why I can't understand why pro-life advocates would seek a new referendum. They risk losing the existing protection. Each side has its own polls and they also take their own interpretation from the polls published by newspapers. People in the pro-life movement say that public attitudes on social issues like abortion move in the course of referendum campaigns. They're right about that -- there's certainly enough evidence from past referendums The despite children's rights referendum it; by so adid the divorcemajority. referendum in 1995, passedtobydemonstrate a wafer-thinthat. majority polls showing it wouldsaw pass comfortable In a way, that's not surprising. Campaigns are arguments. People change their minds when they're watching -- or sometimes even participating in -- arguments. Page 32 of 54 © 2013 Factiva, Inc. All rights reserved.

 

But the movement in a campaign could be either way. What I don't see is compelling evidence for the pro-life contention that the movement during a referendum campaign would be towards its point of view. Here is what I think the polls say: the middle ground is probably more liberal on the issue than the legislation proposed by the government. This is likely to be reinforced in a referendum campaign that would see wide projection of the personal stories of women seeking abortions after rape, incest and in the case of fatal foetal abnormality. The pro-life side are right that there is a significant pro-choice bias in most of the national media -- if you doubt that, look at the Twitter feeds of many journalists ("all opinions my own") who choose to give their views on the matter -- and that would probably matter in the course of a campaign. But all this is probably not that relevant to the current debate. There isn't going to be a referendum. The leadership of the government regards it as a nightmare scenario. Many politicians don't want a referendum because they fear it would be "divisive". Of course it would. That's not necessarily a bad thing. People have different views on a fundamental issue. They will occasionally insult one another. Many are utterly intolerant of the views of the other side; indeed, they think them positively evil. As long as they can manage to conduct themselves in a reasonably civilised manner, this is okay, actually. It would be a lot worse if nobody cared. Document SBPM000020130526e95q00016

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M tin a  cr o ld slo u e e k e liy u te sn n t;a w T o f F  l d a  e e 'sr m in e a mo vn ce  i co n e  n r e v tvo o e  r a s u ch  rch s  tra s n a a i-t  tio rb cn a p ma n ig

News Martin could lose key lieutenants; Two of FF leader's main men voice concern over vote as church starts anti-abortion campaign

DANIEL McCONNELL ; JEROME REILLY 670 words 26 May 2013 The FSII Sunday Independent 3; National 5 English © 2013 Independent Newspapers Ireland Ltd FIANNA FAIL leader Micheal Martin risks losing two of his key lieutenants over the  abortion issue, the Sunday Independent can reveal. The news comes after it emerged that the Catholic Church will increase the pressure on government TDs and ministers with 10 weeks of pro-life campaigning from the pulpit right up to the Dail''s summer recess. Priests will be given weekly "briefing notes" prepared by the Catholic Communications Office and will this weekend begin a campaign during Masses of restating the church''s opposition to abortion. Divisions are opening up in Fianna Fail over how to handle the pending abortion legislation, with senior  figures Dara Calleary and Michael McGrath known to be deeply unhappy. Health spokesman Billy Kelleher had been reluctant for the party to discuss the issue until necessary to avoid six months of divisiveness, but it is clear that divisive debate is now in full swing. Mr Martin was quoted in the media this weekend saying the legislation was "consistent with a pro-life position", but his comments have angered many of his front bench, who have grave personal concerns about the proposed law. They are also angered by the fact that at the last meeting of the party it was agreed that no public utterances would be made until members had met in the wake of the Oireachtas Health Committee hearings, but Mr  Martin spoke before any meeting took place. Enterprise spokesman Mr Calleary told the Sunday Independent: "I have had serious issues with the legislation. Having read the transcripts of the committee hearings, I still have those concerns. I will be discussing them with the leader." Fianna Fail has so far managed to avoid any major rift on the abortion issue, but given that many of the parliamentary party hold pro-life views, Mr Martin knows he cannot simply order his troops to adopt a party line. Finance spokesman Mr McGrath upped the ante in calling for a free vote, but Mr Martin would prefer an agreed position. Mr McGrath declined to comment this weekend. However, others in the party appear to share his view that a free vote should be allowed. One leading FF figure said: "If he doesn''t have a free vote, there will be casualties from the party from the Dail and the Seanad. This issue merits people having the right to vote with their conscience." There are others in the party who are opposed to allowing a free vote and are demanding that the party oppose the pending legislation. Over the next two-and-ahalf months, one-page information sheets will be sent to priests each week setting out the church''s pro-life position in relation to the abortion debate. In the first salvo to be delivered from pulpits at Masses this weekend, priests have been advised to reiterate the church''s position. The briefing note advises: "It has been reported that there is no change to the law on abortion in Ireland. This is untrue. If there was no change this legislation would not have been published. The proposed legislation gives practical effect to the X Case decision which permits abortion up to birth where suicide is threatened.

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Ireland is about to cross a fundamental moral Rubicon — the direct and intentional killing of the innocent." The advisory also recommends two special prayers of intercession centred on the theme of the right to life. The move will heap further pressure on politicians of all parties, but particularly Fine Gael and Labour  deputies who have been subjected to one of the most organised and biggest lobbying campaigns in Irish political history. As well as hundreds of emails and letters, TDs and senators are being inundated with callers to constituency offices and at area clinics by pro-life advocates. There have also been several serious incidents of verbal abuse aimed at government TDs. Document FSII000020130526e95q0004l

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ih p sB o e 'rsth a t  o p citl a s u n so n e e d m vie a d lto a m yn

News Bishop's threat to politicians sounded medieval to many

Garry O'Sullivan 766 words 25 May 2013 Irish Independent IINM 3; National 33 English (c) 2013 Independent Newspapers Ireland Ltd AS HEATED as the  abortion debate in Ireland has become, there was palpable embarrasssment and unease among many Catholics at the raising of potential excommunications and public refusal of communion at Mass for politicians who vote for  abortion  abortion legislation. This embarrassment was compounded by Cardinal Brady''s failure to rule the threat out in the future and his successor Primate elect Archbishop Eamon Martin''s clear statement that politicians who vote for  abortion are excommunicating themselves and should not approach the altar rails for communion. The intervention sounded medieval to many and a politicisation of the Eucharist. For those hostile to the church, it was, they said, a return to the type of ecclesiastical bullying of politicians common in the past. Recently elected Bishop of Limerick Brendan Leahy and Archbishop Diarmuid Martin seemed to agree, saying while politicians have to think seriously, they were nervous about politicising the Eucharist. So was this a mis-step by the heir Cardinal apparentRatzinger in Armagh? EamonPrinciple'', Martin appeared to be taking the line laid down in 2004 by then in aArchbishop letter of 'General which states that where a Catholic politician consistently campaigns and votes for 'permissive' ' abortion, he is to be cautioned that unless he changes his 'sinful' ' ways, he will be denied communion at Mass. It says that a Catholic who votes for such a politician because of his stand on abortion also cannot approach for communion. When this letter was written in 2004, the US bishops were struggling to figure out how to deal with Catholic politicians who voted for abortion. Ratzinger''s letter taken to its ultimate conclusion in the US, where some 46pc of the United States' ' 67 million Roman Catholics identify as pro-choice, would mean excommunicating 32 million people, something the church is not prepared to do. It is claimed that when the American Cardinal McCarrick received the letter, he failed to show it to the other US bishops until it was eventually leaked in Rome. Yet even Ratzinger''s letter, which has some weight but is not church law, provides for a level of discretion in these matters to avoid a public politicisation of the Eucharist. He says that a politician''s pastor should meet with him and instruct him and warn him. In other words, whether a Catholic should or should not attend communion is between the priest/bishop and the individual. ARCHBISHOP Eamon the Martin''s public is utterings in this matter to emphasise private pastoral nature of all of this. Otherwise impression given, and many tookfailed it to mean this, thatthe bishops are using the threat of excommunication and refusal of the Eucharist to impose their political will, thereby fighting politics at the altar rails. The Pontifical Academy for Life at the Vatican takes a clear line. Speaking to this correspondent this week, a senior expert on abortion said that issues such as excommunication should belong in the private forum and the bishop or priest should approach the politician privately. He also stated that excommunication was a pastoral issue, where the politician who votes for abortion has pushed themselves outside of the Catholic community and that the church wants him or her to reflect, change their ways and come back. So where does all this leave Irish Catholic politicians? If they vote for pro-abortion legislation, they are, it seems, automatically excommunicated. Their priest or bishop would need to tell them that until they change their stance, they should not present for  communion. This suggests that there must be a dialogue between politician and priest. There may be an arguable case for the politician that he is voting for medical abortion where the life of the mother is at risk. This would not fall under the heading of Ratzinger''s 'permissive abortion' ' criteria. Page 36 of 54 © 2013 Factiva, Inc. All rights reserved.

 

What is certain is that the Vatican will not be excommunicating any Irish politicians and it is very unlikely that the Irish bishops will either. Politicians are invited as Catholics to explore their conscience. Could we see Taoiseach Enda Kenny being refused communion at the Mass to inaugurate the new Archbishop of Armagh? It is unlikely, as Mr Kenny will have made his own arrangements with his own priest/bishop, and for another priest or bishop who wasn''t aware of those discussions to deny communion to Mr Kenny or anyone else would be an abuse of the Eucharist and a political statement at the altar rails. Garry O'Sullivan is Vatican Correspondent for 'The Irish Catholic' Document IINM000020130525e95p00029

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id a B to lo wo b tio a n  r fin a ta l  n b o  a r ity cl e m s s a

Ireland Bid to allow abortion in fatal abnormality cases

339 words 25 May 2013 The Irish Examiner  IRISEX English © Irish Examiner, 2013. Thomas Crosbie Media, TCH A group of cross-party TDs and senators plans to table an amendment to proposed  abortion legislation which would allow for terminations in cases of fatal foetal abnormalities. At a meeting in Leinster House this week, women told politicians of their experiences carrying their babies home in boxes from England — where they had terminations — when they had no chance of survival outside the womb. Under current Irish law, women have to carry a foetus even if it will not live beyond delivery. These circumstances are not included in proposed laws allowing for abortion in limited circumstances because, according to the Government, it would be in breach of the constitutional protection of the right to life of the unborn. However, the Terminations for Medical Reasons group, which met with parliamentarians this week — said it has legal advice that including fatal foetal abnormalities as grounds for abortion is constitutional. "We believe it is possible within the framework of the Constitution to legislate for this because the conditions we are talking about are incompatible with life, and therefore we think it doesn’t conflict with the Constitution," said United Left Alliance TD Richard Boyd Barrett, who chaired the meeting. He revealed during the meeting that he had lost a baby girl shortly after her birth in 2002. He said the fatal condition in those circumstances was not diagnosed during the pregnancy, but "one thing that myself and my ex-partner were absolutely clear about at the time in this awful situation was that if we had have known, we would certainly have wanted to have had that choice". He said: "What choice we would have made is another matter. In a situation like that, there is no good option. But we would have wanted to have had the choice." He, along with a number of independent TDs and possibly some from the Government benches, will put together an amendment once the full version of the Protection of Life during Pregnancy Bill is published. Document IRISEX0020130525e95p0001i

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P sin a g a lf  e d w sle i o g ti n a o b a n o  tir o w n ld u n co  fm Iri  ish r e lit  o rg h tu in p k.

Passing flawed legislation on abortion would confirm Irish elite groupthink.

Breda O'Brien 900 words 25 May 2013 The Irish Times IRTI 14 English (c) 2013, The Irish Times. At the close of the rushed  abortion hearings, Minister of State at the Department of Health Alex White noted the "high level of consensus". He conceded there were also "diverging opinions". What consensus? Every session revealed concerns that profoundly undermined the Government spin that this legislation is just some kind of tidying-up exercise. The master of the Rotunda Hospital, Sam Coulter Smith, said: "To enact and underpin the idea that termination of pregnancy is a solution or a treatment for a patient at risk of committing suicide when there is no evidence to support that intervention creates an ethical dilemma for our profession." He said that, in the case of suicidal intent, "delivering a baby at 25 weeks' gestation could lead to death due to extreme prematurity or to a child with cerebral palsy or with other significant developmental issues". The master of the National Maternity Hospital, Rhona Mahony, confirmed that up to 50 per cent of babies delivered at 24 weeks will die, and up to 50 per cent will have cerebral palsy. She also submitted that she was not a psychiatrist but if psychiatrists told her it was necessary to save a woman's life she would deliver a baby at that gestational age or well before, as would the other doctors at that session. Worry about job prospects Contrary to political rhetoric about no change in medical practice, Dr Mary McCaffrey explained that medical personnel would have to be trained to carry out abortions because most of  them had never done so to date, and the procedure carries risks of morbidity and mortality. Some doctors already worry about job prospects and discrimination against them if they refuse to carry out abortions. Dr John Monaghan asked that the Act specifically prevent doctors from killing a baby directly before it is delivered, "either by surgical means or lethal injection". No such guarantee is found in the heads of the Bill, which refer to a medical procedure "in the course of which or as a result of which unborn human life is ended". If none of that disturbed Alex White, you might have thought Prof Kevin Malone's submission would have. But no. Prof Malone, fresh from launching ground-breaking research on Irish suicide, commented on potential unintended consequences: "Contrary to the notion of it saving the lives of an extremely small num- ber of  females, it may be placing a greater number of young male lives at risk . . . the effect of legislation may be a greater loss of life in Ireland than life-saving." He wondered how mental health literacy would be taught in schools, given that the legislation legitimises suicidality for women in certain circumstances? Prof Malone's point is reiterated in the National Office for  Suicide Prevention (NSFP) media guidelines: "A dangerous message from the media is that suicide achieves results; it makes people sorry or it makes people eulogise you." Suicidal intent Yet this proposed legislation says that the taking of unborn life, which is illegal in every other  case except real and substantial physical risk to a mother's life, may be rendered legal if you declare suicidal intent. Suicidal intent is therefore legitimised as a normal response to extreme stress, so normal that we have no choice other than to sanction the sacrifice of another human life. Some pro-legislation psychiatrists took pains to point out that there are women, albeit in rare circumstances, who are not mentally ill but are suicidal due to pregnancy alone, and for whom, therefore, it is appropriate to facilitate an abortion. Yet the NSFP media guidelines state: "Avoid simplistic explanations for suicide. Although a catalyst may appear to be obvious, suicide is never the result of a single factor or event, and is likely to have several inter-related causes." Page 39 of 54 © 2013 Factiva, Inc. All rights reserved.

 

It is astonishing that Prof Malone's statement has not provoked widespread concern. He made a written submission last January and his evidence was ignored then too. Most of our legislators have shown themselves incapable of hearing anything that does not chime with introducing abortion on the grounds of suicide, even when it comes from a researcher they are simultaneously lauding for his or her other ground-breaking work. Irrevocable decision Meanwhile, in Britain, a woman who has suffered from psychosis for eight years and is currently in a secure mental health facility for her safety has been granted an abortion against the advice of  psychiatrists, her husband and her mother, all of whom believe she is too unwell to make such an irrevocable decision. The judge rushed to facilitate her decision before 24 weeks' gestation, even though part of her reasoning is that the baby is a girl. But of course that will never happen in Holy, Catholic Ireland - oh, sorry, Wholly Secular Ireland - because we are morally superior and we cherish our unborn children. We cherish them so much that we can contemplate either aborting them or delivering them at 24 weeks in full knowledge of the attendant risks, if three doctors think it would somehow help a suicidal mother despite the absence of any scientific evidence that it would help at all. If this utterly flawed legislation passes, it will be proof that the groupthink in our elites is so pervasive as to be impenetrable by both science and common sense. Document IRTI000020130525e95p0001s

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i m T m lie ita ke y u is ira e sin g  o rf m h  n e ira s. W g h ile th e sd ic u o w se  r s ia e t n rn sti n ,ig  m ro f vtie a n a d u  lyrte g n n e ia c,lg  tira g y n is e d d in e .

Time limit a key issue arising from hearings. While the discourse was interesting, informative and utterly engaging, clarity is needed in some areas.

Geraldine Kennedy 1,151 words 25 May 2013 The Irish Times IRTI 13 English (c) 2013, The Irish Times. The principal outcome of the three days of  abortion  abortion hearings at the Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children was that the agenda has moved on. For the first time, legislators and medical and legal experts were discussing the scheme of a Bill to legislate for the Supreme Court decision in the X case in 1992 based on the passage of the so-called pro-life amendment to the Constitution 30 years ago. Miss X was a 14-year-old girl who was raped by a neighbour and both she and her parents wanted her to have an  abortion in England because she was suicidal. When they sought advice as to whether procuring DNA evidence would assist in a prosecution, the then attorney general, Harry Whelehan, decided to exercise his independent right, parens patriae , separate from his being legal adviser to the government, to act in the public interest to protect the unborn under article 40.3.33 of the Constitution. The president of the High Court, the late Mr Justice Declan Costello, refused her the right to travel. The Supreme Court subsequently decided that where there was a real and substantial risk to the life, as distinct from the health, of the mother, she could have an abortion. Ms or Mrs X is now 35. One wonders what she privately makes of it all: being the focus of the most contentious and divisive issue in Irish society for the past 21 years. But this is not germaine to three 10-hour  days of deliberations in the Seanad chamber by the health committee, joined by other members of the Oireachtas, that ended on Tuesday night. They were discussing, rather than debating, the legal and medical framework for doctors and women where there is a real and substantial risk to their lives. Like the hearings in January, the discourse between the medical and legal professionals and the politicians was interesting, informative and utterly engaging for any journalist who has covered the social and political debate on abortion since the 1980s. Key interventions There were key interventions which stand out. Dr Sam Coulter Smith, master of what would have been regarded 30 years ago as the "liberal" Rotunda Hospital, saying that the fact that there was no time limit on terminations where there was a risk of suicide in the Bill was "a major ethical dilemma" for obstetricians. But he said "if the psychiatrists tell us the only way the woman's life can be saved is through a termination of pregnancy . . . that is what we will do". Senator David Norris posing the pivotal political and genuine question raised by Archbishop Diarmuid Martin as to whether we were introducing the most liberal abortion regime in the world since there was no time limit governing termination on the risk of suicide. Prof William Binchy, a leader of the Pro-Life Campaign in all of the five referendum questions on the issue, was in a time warp at the committee. He argued primarily about the Supreme Court's decision in the X case. Only as an aside, did he say that Head 4, the provision governing the risk of suicide, was the problem. Mrs Justice Catherine McGuinness, formerly of the Supreme Court, said there had been a number of cases where young people in State care had been permitted to travel for an abortion over the years. The Supreme Court didn't write judgments in these cases because they viewed the decisions as being in line with the X  judgment. She also suggested that "it might be worth a go" for the Government to put a time limit for  terminations into the Bill to see if it would be constitutional. There were, of course, the middle-aged men with Middle Ages views, epitomised by Deputy Peter Mathews, who spoke always in generalities, like the Holocaust, rather than addressing the proposed Bill. Senator  Rónán Mullen could be observed handing out scripts to some other members. And it was surprising how few of the 25 women TDs and 18 women Senators turned up to engage in the debate. Minister of State for Health Kathleen Lynch sat through some of it in the public gallery. For all of that, the hearings were enormously informative and made for a constructive contribution to the debate. Deputy Jerry Buttimer chaired them well. The deliberations make the case, in fact, for the retention of  a reformed Seanad where experts in all fields could be drawn into the democratic process. Page 41 of 54 © 2013 Factiva, Inc. All rights reserved.

 

There are a number of amendments to the general scheme of the Bill which the Government should consider  very seriously arising from the latest hearings. The Bill provides that terminations may be provided only in the 19 public obstetric units across theRepublic, three of them being voluntary maternity hospitals and 16 managed by the Health Service Executive. A very strong case was made by the medical professionals that these procedures should be permitted in all general hospitals run by the HSE. Holles Street hospital, for example, sends some pregnant women to St Vincent's hospital in cases where it doesn't have the expertise. There should be greater clarity in the Bill about the role of the general practitioner. Head 2 recommends that hospital specialists "shall consult with a woman's general practitioner where practicable". It would seem obvious that the GP would normally be the pregnant woman's first port of call into the health service. It has emerged that there are a number of psychiatrists who, for technical reasons, never transferred from the general to the specialists division of medical practitioners in 2007 and this issue should be addressed in the Bill. Greater clarity There was a compelling case by a number of participants at the hearings to bring greater  clarity to the question of consent and capacity to make a decision to terminate a pregnancy, particularly where a person could be between 16 and 18 years of age in State care. There were very strong objections to the criminalisation of a pregnant woman undergoing an abortion in this State on grounds outside of those outlined in the Bill. Finally, the biggest obligation now resting with the Government is to answer Archbishop Martin's question unambiguously. This was done piecemeal during the hearings. It will be the obstetrician, not the psychiatrist, who will determine the viability of the foetus with the aim, at all times, to vindicate the life of the unborn. "There is no question that a baby of 28 to 30 weeks will be killed" was the way that Dr Rhona Mahony, master  of Holles Street hospital, put it. Geraldine Kennedy is former editor of The Irish Times . She has covered the debate on abortion since the early 1980s and attended the recent committee hearings Document IRTI000020130525e95p0001p

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Be u tim  re e ivc h td te a s r  ‘fo sa u lt a n d d u  ’re a rm d o n ‘H a cl st’ lu le o fa   ts.

Buttimer received threats of ‘assault and murder’ and ‘Holocaust’ leaflets.

528 words 25 May 2013 The Irish Times IRTI 7 English (c) 2013, The Irish Times. Jerry Buttimer won widespread praise this week for his even-handed stewardship of the  abortion legislation hearings. As the three-day session neared, campaigners on both sides of the  abortion argument intensified their  efforts to influence Buttimer, who is chairman of the Oireachtas health committee. He said nothing about it. In the wake of the Government's publication of the heads of the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill, we talked to a number of female Fine Gael parliamentarians who told of the torrent of hostile and threatening letters, leaflets and emails flowing into their Dáil and constituency offices. "It's bad for us, but you should talk to Jerry Buttimer. What he's had to put up with is just disgraceful," said one, to the agreement of her colleagues. When we approached the Cork South-Central deputy about this, he said he didn't want to talk about the issue until after the hearings. "I've had a picket outside my office every Friday for the last two months. I couldn't tell you how many emails have come in," he said yesterday. "Leaflets with the most awful pictures were sent out, comparing abortion to the Holocaust and urging people to contact me about the legislation. Some constituents actually thought I had sent them." He talked of threats of "assault and murder". Posters appeared with the message, "Simon Coveney is killing animals and Jerry Buttimer is killing babies." The volume of mail and emails was huge. "The pro-choice crowd were forcefully insisting that we act on the legislation, but there was very little vitriol. That came predominately from the extreme anti-abortion campaigners. "There was so much of it I deliberately didn't go near email or social media during the hearings." Buttimer, who spent five years in Maynooth seminary and holds a degree in theology, shrugs off the hate mail. And for all the nasty letters, he also received many of support and encouragement, along with a large number  of Mass bouquets. "I got a lot of tiny little foetuses and rosary beads - I've a drawer full of the stuff. The good thing is that lots of people are praying for me on both sides." He was meticulous in chairing the hearings with patience and impartiality, ensuring that the exchanges remained temperate. "I think the tactics from those on the extremes have no place in a civilised society," he says, adding that "those who are leaders in the church" must also adopt a temperate approach. "The Eucharist is a sacrament and not a political football." An indication of the paucity of middle ground opinion in this continuing argument is the difficulty Buttimer had in securing witnesses who weren't involved with an interest group. "We tried to get more neutrals in, but it proved very difficult." Meanwhile, as a Dáil heckler of note, it's been a case of poacher turned gamekeeper for the Government backbencher. He was "Jerry Buttimer wouldn't melt in his mouth" during the hearings. The Ceann Comhairle will be hoping he's turned over this new leaf for good. Document IRTI000020130525e95p0000x

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M tin a  b r  va re in  a trb o io n n sta e c

Letters Martin brave in abortion stance

276 words 24 May 2013 Irish Independent IINM 3; National 32 English (c) 2013 Independent Newspapers Ireland Ltd IT was interesting to hear Micheal Martin yesterday belatedly and finally come down off the fence to tell us he personally favours backing the Government's Protection of Life during Pregnancy Bill. The Fianna Fail leader's comments show us that he is trying to honour his pledge not to play politics with the  abortion issue. He also has good grounds for arguing that the draft legislation does not give antiabortion campaigners cause for worry. But Mr Martin's comments still leave him with some pretty hefty internal party problems. It is widely believed that the 36 TDs, senators and MEPs, who make up FF's much-depleted parliamentary party, are pretty evenly split on this most divisive of issues. Some of the FF members are determined to find a way of being seen to vote against this piece of legislation at all costs. With a bare three dozen members, Mr Martin cannot really afford to lose any on this issue. The prospect of thecannot FF leadership beingHeforced to concede a free votehis ondetermination the legislation,towhich would dent Mr  Martin's standing, be ruled out. is to be admired for stating continue working for a common and united party position. That is the way mainstream Irish politics works. Mr Martin's comments will be welcome news to Taoiseach Enda Kenny who has to grapple with potential rebels inside Fine Gael. It increases the Taoiseach's prospects of steering this legislation through the Dail without a formalised vote. It has been late in coming, but Mr Martin wins plaudits for some straight dealing here. Document IINM000020130524e95o0003l

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M tin a  b r ka cs o rp sp o e b d io l b a n o  tir n

Ireland Martin backs proposed bill on abortion

526 words 24 May 2013 The Irish Examiner  IRISEX English © Irish Examiner, 2013. Thomas Crosbie Media, TCH Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin said he personally supports proposed legislation allowing  abortion in limited circumstances, which he said is "consistent with the pro-life position". He is to hold one-to-one meetings with members of his parliamentary party who have concerns about the Protection of Life during Pregnancy Bill in an effort to reach a consensus on supporting it in a Dáil vote. But securing an agreed position "is going to be very difficult", he said. "People have very genuine issues about this and some have said it was an issue of conscience for them." Mr Martin did not rule out allowing a free vote — something requested by some of his front bench — but said his preference is to reach an agreed party position. "Without question this is an issue unlike most other issues that come before parliament — people have genuine issues and I respect that," he said. Some of the party’s most senior TDs, including finance spokesman Michael McGrath, and enterprise spokesman Dara Calleary, have reservations about the legislation because of the inclusion of suicide as legal grounds for a termination. But Mr Martin said the bill "actually brings in a framework that is quite limiting and quite restrictive". He said: "One of the concerns was that it will lead to abortion on demand, I don’t think it will do that." He said the requirement that three experts assess whether a pregnant women is suicidal "actually limits what the current situation is" under the Supreme Court X-case ruling. "The current legal position is that basically a woman can seek an abortion on suicidal grounds in any hospital  — with one doctor making that assessment — with no requirements for psychiatric assessment whatsoever," he said. The Protection of Life during Pregnancy Bill "provides a clear legal framework" which he said "in my view is fair, is drafted in good faith and is consistent with pro-life principles". This is the first time since the bill was published three weeks ago that Mr Martin has publicly stated whether  or not he supports it. Earlier this month the party held a meeting to decide its position, but following a four-hour discussion, 10 out of its 19 TDs would not agree to the leader’s request to support it. They decided to come back to the issue — after the Oireachtas Health Committee held its hearings. Galway West TD Éamon Ó Cuív is among those most vehemently opposed to the legislation. He is joined by Seamus Kirk, Michael Kitt, Sean Ó Fearghaíl, Brendan Smith, and John Browne. The party’s two youngest TDs, Charlie McConalogue and Robert Troy, also have reservations but are said to be more middle ground and likely to agree to the leader’s position. Timmy Dooley, Niall Collins, Barry Cowen, Willie O’Dea, Sean Fleming, and Michael Moynihan believe the party should back the bill. John McGuinness, is said to be in the middle ground and likely to agree. Of the party’s 14 senators, just five support the bill, including the only two female members of the parliamentary party, Averil Power and Mary White. Document IRISEX0020130524e95o0000t

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E irh u a c sti n t a o n ce a  d r b to e d ltin a e d e tb .h a T siu e o e b a f   o tir n is c m o xle .p N o e n st’ ca o n e h s u ld o e m xite c r m o n u m itca o . n

Eucharist is not an ace card to be dealt in debate. The issue of abortion is complex. No one’s stance should merit excommunication.

Seán Freyne 732 words 24 May 2013 The Irish Times IRTI 16 English (c) 2013, The Irish Times. The Catholic primate elect, Archbishop Eamon Martin, has been putting himself about, as they say, even though he hasn't yet taken up office. Last week ( Irish Times , Rite & Reason, May 14th), he introduced the Eucharist as the touchstone of his criticism of those supporting the Protection of Life during Pregnancy Bill: "How can we be in communion with the bread of life and not speak of the Gospel of Life in our daily lives, especially in these days when unborn human life is under direct attack?" he asked. Then in the Sunday Times (May 19th), he went further. He suggested no priest should administer  Communion to any politician who supported the proposed Bill, declaring this the introduction of  abortion to Ireland. This claim is patently untrue.  Abortion could only be introduced here by a referendum passed by the majority. Scaremongering cannot change that fact. Yet no one can predict the future, or how Irish society may change. We should trust our children. What is disturbing about the claim, first stated by Cardinal Seán Brady, is that the virus has crossed the Atlantic, and Cardinal Seán O' Malley of Boston is of the same opinion it seems. No doubt his Clare Island genes stirred him to intervene, but really he has enough to be going on with, given the mess he inherited from his predecessor, Cardinal Bernard Law. A threatening church In his Sunday Times interview, Archbishop Martin declares that the erring politicians "excommunicate themselves", and goes on to claim that the church has no desire to be threatening. But what else is excommunication but formal exclusion from the body of Christ? No amount of liberal canonical comment can get away from that plain meaning of this term enshrined in canon law. Only a misinformed understanding of the Eucharist would link participation and this sanction. Archbishop Martin would appear to be operating with a 19th-century devotional understanding of the Eucharist that is both private and personal, as his opening endorsement of the Apostolate of Eucharistic Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament indicates. Without wishing to denigrate this spiritual practice, it is far removed from the early Christian understanding of  the Eucharist instituted by Christ as being both social and political. This is clear from Paul's attack on the Corinthians' misuse of the Eucharistic meal to display their own unjust social behaviour: "The poor go hungry, while you get drunk" (1 Cor 11, 21). At the same time Archbishop Martin, as well as Cardinals Brady and O'Malley, use the term "the Gospel of  Life" exclusively in support of their strong anti-abortion stance. But we need to unpack this very nice-sounding phrase. As descriptive of Jesus's vision, it certainly does not apply only to the unborn, but includes all life, human, animal and plant - from womb to tomb and beyond. "I am the Way and the Truth and the Life" (Jn 14,6). The church's mission is to be pro all life, not just anti-abortion. Why didn't the four bishops on the Dáil steps on budget day protest the cuts that affected the lives of the poor, rather than focusing solely on abortion? Inclusion not rejection One early Christian church in Syria, that which stands behind Matthew's Gospel, produced a blueprint for community living based on its memory of Jesus, Matthew chapter 18. Here there is reference to exclusion, if an offending person refuses to be reconciled. But instead of ending on the harsh note of "excommunication", a promise by Jesus concludes the treatment: "Wherever two or three are gathered in my name there am I in the midst of them." (Mt 18, 15-20). I respectfully suggest that in future their lordships might ponder this and other New Testament passages before reaching for the shotgun of excommunication. The Gospel of Life is gospel, that is, "good news" for all, not canonical sanction against those who disagree with them on what is a complex and difficult issue. Page 46 of 54 © 2013 Factiva, Inc. All rights reserved.

 

Se án Freyne is former professor of theology at Trinity College Dublin and author of several books on early Christianity. His most recent study, The Jesus Movement and its Expansion: Matrix, Ministry, Mission , will be published by William Eerdmans this year  Document IRTI000020130524e95o00029

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M tin a  vr e ic u o s o p o ft r  rb a  o tir n il l.F a B le  sre d a ys B il u o m w d l ke a o b tio a n  r o m  e r  cirts ive th n cisu  e a r tlyn th  c e e s . a

Martin voices support for abortion Bill. FF leader says Bill would make abortion more restrictive than is currently the case.

Stephen Collins 538 words 24 May 2013 The Irish Times IRTI 9 English (c) 2013, The Irish Times. Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin has expressed support for the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill, saying it is consistent with pro-life values. Mr Martin said the Bill would make  abortion more restrictive than is currently the case. He said that his parliamentary party would make a decision on its approach to the Bill in the next few weeks after the full text is published. Mr Martin said that the party would make a decision at that stage on whether or not a free vote would be allowed on the Bill as advocated by his constituency colleague and party finance spokesman Michael McGrath. The Fianna Fáil unborn leader said his personal view was legislation vindicated the equal right to life of the mother and the as enshrined in Article 40 ofthat thethe Constitution. Mr Martin said the party's legal adviser, Jim O'Callaghan, had advised that currently a woman who was suicidal could request an abortion with no requirement for a psychiatric assessment but the Bill provided a framework for a proper assessment. Fears "I know the inclusion of suicide has raised fears that this could be an avenue for abortion on demand but I cannot see how the legislation would facilitate this," Mr Martin said. He said the Irish people had twice rejected attempts to eliminate suicide as a ground for abortion and the issue had to be dealt with now. He said the party's health spokesman, Billy Kelleher, would make a report to the parliamentary party when the full Bill was published and a decision on whether a free vote would be allowed would be taken at that stage. "It will be a matter for the parliamentary party to make that decision. I am going to meet deputies and Senators in the coming week. They already know well what my own position is," he said. Call for free vote Earlier this week Mr McGrath publicly called for a free vote on the Bill. "This is a particularly sensitive, divisive issue. People have very strong personal views and I think for our  party that that should be recognised," Mr McGrath said. "And we also do have to bear in mind that only a few weeks ago our ardfheis, through the new democratic one-member-one-vote system, did pass a number of strong pro-life motions. We have to have regard to that as well." He added that while the objective of the party was to come to an agreed position, he thought that would be difficult. "I don't believe it is the type of issue where a party whip system should apply," he said. "I think that we should strongly consider allowing each individual TD and senator the right to vote in accordance with their own conscience. I think it is a unique situation." A large group of Senators and some TDs expressed concern about the inclusion of a suicide clause during a private 4½-hour meeting of the parliamentary party earlier this month, with some insisting they could not support the planned law in its current form. Document IRTI000020130524e95o00011 Page 48 of 54 © 2013 Factiva, Inc. All rights reserved.

 

Gn F i iste m r m sla a s ti- a n trb o io n  to rp e e st a s r e 'lits  ra ly a m 'd

News FG minister slams anti-abortion protesters as 'literally mad'

Fiach Kelly 490 words 23 May 2013 Irish Independent IINM 3; National 26 English (c) 2013 Independent Newspapers Ireland Ltd A FINE Gael minister has described some anti- abortion protesters as "literally mad" and says some are engaging in "real intimidation", particularly in rural Ireland. Junior Finance Minister Brian Hayes, a TD for Dublin South-West, also says some people see the  abortion debate as a "kind of last cultural war". He said they were trying to make a stand against the direction the country was taking. Mr Hayes' comments in an interview in 'Hot Press' magazine follow numerous TDs saying they have been subject to intimidation from pro-life groups. Meath East TD Regina Doherty last week revealed pro-life activists had threatened to slit her throat and burn down her house. Mr Hayes said the vast majority of people are respectful, but added: "There is a real intimidation going on the ground, particularly in rural Ireland - mad people. "And I'm not referring to the genuine pro-life position, which is respectful of others and argues the case. But there are elements to this debate which are literally mad, and they see this as some kind of last cultural war. "It's nothing to do with abortion. They see this as some kind of way in which the country has gone and they will take one final stand against this. "All of the nonsense that they go on with, appalling attacks on my colleagues from elements of the pro-life gangs, as I call them - we won't be put off by that kind of intimidation." He also said there is a man who stands outside his local church and shouts "minister for abortion" at him. "Thankfully the great majority moderate position doesn't associate with either of the extremes," Mr Hayes said. Gruesome Mr Hayes' comments came as a Fine Gael TD received complaints from her neighbours after a gruesome antiabortion leaflet was distributed in her name. The leaflet featured graphic pictures of dead foetuses, alongside the name, picture and phone number of Fine Gael Dublin South Central TD Catherine Byrne. Ms Byrne said she had got complaints from neighbours and constituents who thought she had sent the leaflet containing the slogan "This is what Fine Gael wants to legalise". "Their children have picked it up in the hall and it's very offensive literature. We're dealing with something we haven't dealt with before," she said. Ms Byrne has spoken during the recent Oireachtas Committee hearings into the abortion legislation about how she has had five healthy children as well as five miscarriages. She said that the inclusion of the graphic pictures of dead babies on the leaflets was extremely upsetting for people. "I know what a baby who has miscarried looks like. I held mine in my hand. I don't need to be reminded of it. There have been many women in the country who have gone through miscarriages," she said. Document IINM000020130523e95n00047

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C  ch h ru u mo t‘cs e d n n  a mn ti- o b  rtio a n ta ci tvis ’

Ireland Church must ‘condemn anti-abortion activists’

430 words 23 May 2013 The Irish Examiner  IRISEX English © Irish Examiner, 2013. Thomas Crosbie Media, TCH The leaders of the Catholic Church need to condemn anti- abortion groups that are disseminating "vile and vitriolic" flyers and issuing violent threats to TDs, said the chair of the Oireachtas committee. Fine Gael TD Jerry Buttimer, who chaired the hearings on  abortion legislation, said he received emails threatening to assault him "from neck to naval and lower" and warning he will "burn in hell" if the Protection of  Life During Pregnancy Bill becomes law. Earlier this week, flyers likening abortion to the Holocaust were sent to householders in his constituency. Recipients were asked to make their views known to Mr Buttimer. "If the Church are leaders, they must stand up and criticise the section of the movement that are engaging in these vile and vitriolic tactics," said Mr Buttimer. "These people tonothing be Christian, but theyas are not of Christian bytheir theirname deeds.toThey not doing their  It cause any goodpurport and are but cowards, none them put theseare leaflets and emails. is despicable, disappointing, and upsetting that these tactics are being used, that these people must resort to this, "Also, Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin also should not be playing politics with the Eucharist and I very much regret that he is doing this. This has no legitimacy in a democracy. "I have always considered that any discussion around abortion should be moderate and temperate, but some of what they have done doesn’t merit comment." Mr Buttimer is to refer the emails and leaflets to the gardaí and the Data Commissioner. The Holocaust flyers distributed in the suburbs of Cork city last weekend showed a picture of bodies in a concentration cap alongside a graphic picture purported to be of an aborted foetus, and state: "The German people let this happen because they didn’t speak out. Are you and I going to let this happen?" Maayan Yolzari, a Cork woman from a Jewish background, told the Irish Examiner "this propaganda [is] completely offensive". A spokesman for the Catholic Bishops Conference said that, when attending the Oireachtas committee in January, Bishop Christopher Jones had called for "calm and reasonable debate" on the issue. "The reality also is that those who are pro-life are many and varied and while some are of faith, others are not of faith and all are responsible for their own actions," said the spokesman. "It is also important for  policy-makers to know that all Catholics have a responsibility to accurately and compassionately promote the Gospel of Life." Document IRISEX0020130523e95n00025

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e b h T a  o tir e d n e tb . a

The abortion debate.

735 words 23 May 2013 The Irish Times IRTI 15 English (c) 2013, The Irish Times. Sir, - It was with dismay and I would have to admit some anger that I read of Coadjutor Archbishop of Armagh Eamon Martin's stance on  abortion and the legislators and medical professionals who facilitate it (Home News, May 21st). As a general practitioner of over 25 years practice I have given advice and information and indeed been part of that very difficult decision-making where  abortion appears to be the best option. I do not see it as my role to be judgmental but to try and find the best solution in a given solution. I have always felt that some of the core issues of Christianity to be non-judgmental, caring and forgiving. These do not appear to be evident in Archbishop Eamon Martin's statements. I certainly do not see self-excommunication as an option and wonder if any of the paedophile clergy have self excommunicated. I find it difficult to comprehend that a "caring" church would ban both contraception and abortion without reserve. I cannot allow my professional integrity to be undermined by the threat of self- excommunication. Moreover, I will not. - Yours, etc, Dr BLANAID MacCURTAIN, Castleconnell, Co Limerick. Sir, - Can anyone honestly argue that human life does not begin at conception? It seems the Government can. The Protection of Life during Pregnancy Bill offers a definition of "unborn" as "following implantation". Why then does the Bill also need to expressly exclude "emergency contraception" from its scope if the pre-implanted embryo is not included in the proposed definition of "unborn"? Doesn't this exclusion amount to an admission as to the abortifacient effect of the morning after pill from which it follows that the pre-implanted embryo is also "unborn"? Why can't our constitutional regard for the equal right to life of the unborn be interpreted to include pre-implanted unborn life? The scientists who are so keen on embryo research and couples who are longing to conceive are not in any doubt in this regard. - Yours, etc, Fr EAMONN McCARTHY, Freemount, Charleville, Co Cork. Sir, - As a doctor who has participated in terminating pregnancies in various roles, including countersigning their approval, I am saddened by the letters I have been reading for months on these pages. Women are not one homogeneous group relishing the prospect of abortion on demand. Do people really think women will renounce condoms, forget contraception altogether, forego the "morning after pill" and, with a bold sense of nonchalance, encamp in abortion clinics, celebrating the bloody end of yet another one-night stand? I have yet to meet a woman who set out in life to terminate a pregnancy and was delighted that her time had come. Page 51 of 54 © 2013 Factiva, Inc. All rights reserved.

 

Instead I have seen many, many women struggle to decide what is best for them, their existing children, and their unborn child whose future they can imagine. They chose termination with sadness, regret, fear and sometimes a sense of relief. Many of them cried making the decision and carrying it out. This "debate" seems beleaguered by useless pedantry over what will only represent a very small proportion of the already small proportion of women travelling abroad for terminations. One's relationship with God, or  lack thereof, is very personal. It is up to women to individually reconcile their choice with what fits their beliefs towards God(s). Let's stop judging women and instead show some compassion. Termination is a difficult choice to make without adding societal guilt. - Yours, etc, Dr DAVID MURPHY, Langdon Park Road, London, England. Sir, - Prof Eamon O' Dwyer (May 21st) is to be congratulated on providing compelling evidence from the consequences of the 1969 Californian Therapeutic Abortion Act - over 60,000 abortions sanctioned under its mental health provisions in its first year - and applying it tellingly to the present Irish debate. I would urge Prof James Mackay (Rite and Reason, May 21st) to consider it carefully, particularly in the context of his suggestion that an increasing demand for abortion under the suicidal ideation provision would be unlikely and that to think otherwise makes one guilty of having a poor view of women. I think that the latter  point introduces unnecessarily an emotive element to a problem that needs to take account of all relevant empirical as well as moral factors, by studying outcomes in other jurisdictions as objectively as possible. Yours, etc, ABBAN MURPHY Sunnycroft Road, Hounslow, Middlesex, England. Document IRTI000020130523e95n00023

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D lw á i sit e  a rxt yd a s  n fi d e ,d se a ys e RA ly.i tro b io  l se n il o g ti m a n e rya  irq u e sit g tin tin o s tla e u s m  s,ra e ys M in s .rte

Dáil will sit extra days if needed,says Reilly. Abortion legislation may require sittings into late summer,, says Minister summer Minister..

Ronan McGreevy 550 words 23 May 2013 The Irish Times IRTI 7 English (c) 2013, The Irish Times. Minister for Health James Reilly has said the Dáil should sit late into the summer if necessary to pass legislation on  abortion. Speaking after opening new Medtronic offices in his constituency in Swords yesterday, Dr Reilly said there was a determination on the part of the Government to deal with the issue before the summer recess. "If the Dáil has to sit extra days and longer hours, so be it, but everybody will have the opportunity to speak to their concerns on this very sensitive issue. There is a real sense in Government that we should not delay with this issue before the summer and the house rises." Oireachtas health committee chairman Jerry Buttimer, who has just finished three days of hearings on the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill 2013, said it was a "big ask" to have the legislation in place by the end of July and it was important that the Minister came back with the legislation itself. 'Determined'Dr Reilly said he had been in regular contact with Mr Buttimer. "I think what Jerry is saying very clearly [is] that there is a big job of work to be done and nobody is underestimating it. I'm determined to have it in before the summer and I'm going to do everything I possibly can to make it happen." Separately, Minister of State for Finance Brian Hayes has described some anti-abortion campaigners as "literally mad". Mr Hayes described as "appalling" many attacks by anti-abortion campaigners on his party colleagues "from elements of the pro-life gang", but said intimidation would not work. In an interview with Hot Press , he maintained there were elements on the anti-abortion side who saw the debate as "some kind of last cultural war. It's nothing to do with abortion. They see this as some kind of way in which the country has gone and they will take one final stand against it." He told the magazine: "I'm more than happy that this issue would be dominated by women, and not by men." Fine Gael has raised the issue of a flyer that was sent to TD Catherine Byrne, which juxtaposed her face with pictures of dismembered foetuses. It includes the expression: "This is what Fine Gael wants to legalise. Say no to abortion," along with Ms Byrne's number. Clarity Separately yesterday it was claimed the Government's draft legislation may not provide clarity on a woman's existing constitutional right to abortion. According to a coalition of 11 pro-choice groups, unless the Bill is amended, it will fail the requirements of the 2010 European Court of Human Rights judgment against Ireland in relation to abortion. At a press conference yesterday the coalition said it was disappointed not to have been invited to appear at the recent Oireachtas hearings. Ailbhe Smyth of Action on X said the coalition was demanding a range of changes to the proposed legislation. These included changes to the provision for criminalisation of women and their medical advisers and changes to the provision where medical conscientious objectors may opt out of medical procedures but remain involved at the assessment stage. Document IRTI000020130523e95n00010 Search Summary

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