Ireland Government Expected to Propose Okaying Some Abortions

International   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Dec 17, 2012   |   8:33PM   |   Washington, DC

A leading pro-life group in Ireland is concerned the Irish government will propose legislation to allow abortions in some instances.

The Pro-Life Campaign says the Government is expected to approve tomorrow its proposal to bring forward legislation for the X case judgment, saying it has been reported in recent days that the legislation to allow for abortion will be very restrictive and tightly controlled.

Commenting on the likely decision by the Cabinet tomorrow, Dr Ruth Cullen of the Pro Life Campaign told LifeNews:

“Claims that legislation for the X case is a compromise between pro-choice and pro-life sides is nothing more than a political ploy to make any legislation appear restrictive. The reality is, however, that any legislation for the X case would blur the distinction between life saving medical interventions in pregnancy and induced abortion, the sole aim of which is to intentionally end the life of the baby.

“Once it is conceded that some human lives may be directly targeted there is no going back. Inevitably over time the grounds for abortion would be widened. Pro-choice advocates get this point. Sadly some senior members of Fine Gael don’t appear to.

“Abortion advocates are correct in viewing legislation for the X case as a first step in achieving abortion on demand. They understand that once the principle of defending human life is conceded, the State forfeits any moral or ethical authority to put limits on the grounds for abortion in the future. In the coming weeks, the Pro Life Campaign will ensure that the public is made fully aware of what legislation for the X case would actually entail.”

While abortion activists in Ireland work feverishly to exploit the case of a pregnant woman who died to legalize abortion, new numbers show abortion is apparently not needed to save women’s lives.

Not one Irish woman has had an abortion in the UK in order to save her life since 1992, new research from the Committee for Excellence in Maternal Healthcare (CEMH) has shown.

A response to a freedom of information request by the Committee to the British Department of Health shows that, between 1992 and 2010, no abortions were carried out on Irish women under section F of the UK Abortion Act, which requires records to be kept of abortions that were carried out to “save the life of the mother.”

The new data also shows no abortions were carried out on Irish women between 1992 and 2010 under Section G of the same Act, which requires records to be kept of abortions conducted to “prevent grave permanent injury to the physical or mental health of the pregnant woman.”

Dr. Eoghan de Faoite of the Committee for Excellence in Maternal Healthcare commented on the new figures it provided to LifeNews.

“This data makes clear what Irish women have known all along – they do not have to leave Ireland to seek abortions if their life is in danger. In fact, not one abortion has been carried out to save an Irish woman’s life since the X case, despite the frequent and misleading claims of those who  support the provision of induced abortion,” de Faoite said. “As the Dublin Declaration, issued following the International Symposium on Maternal Health, confirmed: ‘the prohibition of abortion does not affect, in any way, the availability of optimal care to pregnant women’. ”

de Faoite added:  “Further, the data makes clear that not one single abortion has been carried out on an Irish woman in the UK to protect her from grave permanent injury to her physical or mental health.”

“The results of this investigation are hugely significant for the government at this current time. Policy makers must be aware of the facts revealed by the official British records which show that abortions are not being carried out on Irish women in order to save their lives,” de Faoite continued.

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“Irish women will not be surprised by these figures. Pregnancy is not a disease and abortion is not a cure. The oft-repeated claim that Irish women are traveling for so-called ‘life-saving’ abortions are shown to be false and without foundation. The truth is that British statistics show not a single life saved by an abortion in 20 years,” he added.

Pushing back against the attempt by abortion campaigners to exploit the recent death of a pregnant woman to try to get Ireland to legalize abortions, as many as 10,000 pro-life people joined the Vigil for Life earlier this month in Dublin.