Sinn Féin faces abortion vote that may see two TDs quit party

Sinn Féin faces two crunch votes today on competing plans to back unrestricted access to abortion up to the 12th week of pregnancy or to allow members to formally oppose the official position in a move that could ultimately see at least two pro-life TDs quit the party.

The key votes will take place on the second day of Sinn Féin’s annual ard fheis in Belfast after a series of motions including plans to potentially run a presidential candidate were backed, and amid ongoing fears that pro-life TDs Peadar Toibin and Carol Nolan will leave the party over its increasingly pro-choice position.

In response to the the historic Eighth Amendment referendum result on May 25, Sinn Féin’s ard chomhairle, youth wing Ógra Shinn Féin, and eight other cumanns have tabled a motion to be voted on today for the party to extend its existing abortion policy to mirror the Government’s post-referendum abortion access plans.