Bishops: #Abortion is ‘attack on most fundamental of all human rights’
It comes after Tánaiste Joan Burton suggested that any liberalisation of Irish abortion laws should be dealt with in a public forum.
“This is a very sensitive, very emotional, and very complex issue and I think the more discussion there is of it, that helps to bring people together, the better,” she said.
Earlier this week, Taoiseach Enda Kenny said he would consider a constitutional convention or citizens’ forum on any proposed changes to the eighth amendment, if Fine Gael is still in power after the election.
The winter 2015 general meeting of the Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference last night released a statement reiterating that “life is sacred”, thus the Church is against any changes to the Constitution around this.
“If an unborn child suffers from a life-limiting condition, or is conceived as a result of a sexual crime for which s/he bears no responsibility, it would be inhumane to withdraw the protection of our basic law, the Constitution, to their right to life,” it states.
“It is more pressing than ever ‘to cherish all the children of the nation equally’ whether unborn or born, and irrespective of a child’s health status.
“Human life is sacred. Life at all stages deserves the utmost protection, compassion, and care.
“The Church teaches that the duty to care for, and to protect, human life extends equally to a mother and her unborn child.”
The statement says any attempt to repeal the eighth amendment “is a direct attack on the most fundamental of all human rights — the right to life”.
The comments come after a landmark decision at Belfast High Court on Monday in which Mr Justice Mark Horner held that abortion be made legal in cases of rape, incest, and fatal foetal abnormality.
The bishops last night expressed “strong support” for the bishops in the North, who said the ruling was “profoundly disquieting”.
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