Assembly on eighth amendment will scrutinise input of women who had abortions

They’ve been chosen to give a ‘range’ of the experiences which can be undergone by women, rather than an absolute balance of pro and anti abortion, writes Alison O’Connor.

The Citizens’ Assembly has heard a procession of voices during it’s discussions on the Eighth Amendment.

These have been expert voices — be they legal, medical, ethical. Tomorrow, for the first time, the voices of Irish women who have had abortions will be heard as they tell their own stories to the 99 citizens who represent us at the assembly.

On Sunday, 17 of the 123 groups who made submissions to the assembly will get to argue their case at the podium. The line up includes two bishops. So far the assembly has run very smoothly, without any obvious difficulties or disagreements.

As time has gone on, the criticism of the gathering — from both sides — has gained understandable pace, some stated more publicly than others. But inside the room, where the assembly members gather, an atmosphere of efficient calm has remained.

However, after this, there is just one more weekend, in April, of discussion on the Eighth Amendment. Most of that final weekend is likely to be taken up with working out what should be put on the citizens’ ballots and the subsequent voting by them.

So this weekend is the final one in which there is an opportunity to attempt to exert influence on the thinking of the citizens.

Tomorrow we will hear the voices of six women with experience of abortion. They will not be physically present in the room. Instead they will outline their personal experiences in a pre-recorded audio presentation where their identities will remain anonymous.

The women chosen to share their personal stories were taken from those who made submissions to the assembly, whether making their own submissions or part of a group submission.

It’s understood their stories will cover a range of circumstances and include women who have had a crisis pregnancy, a diagnosis of fatal foetal abnormality, or who regretted having an abortion. Some of these women were willing to be identified but understandably others weren’t, and as a result it was decided to make all of them anonymous.

They’ve been chosen to give a “range” of the experiences which can be undergone by women, rather than an absolute balance of pro and anti abortion, so their selection and stories are bound to be utterly scrutinised by both sides.

From the outset, the citizens have said they wished to hear personal stories such as these from women.

Assembly Sundays are usually only half a day but this weekend will be a full one because of all that has to be heard from the advocacy groups. Each of the 17 has been given 10 minutes to make their case and apparently they are to be broken into separate panels of pro and anti groups with a question and answer session afterwards.

At last month’s meeting the citizen’s were asked which groups they would like to hear from. They expressed their preferences but the ultimate decisions came down to Judge Laffoy, assembly chair, “to ensure balance, both on the day and in the overall programme”.

There must be many groups miffed at not appearing, but some were automatically excluded. If the assembly only received submissions from a professional organisation on one side of the debate these were automatically excluded.

For instance, Doctors for Life Ireland will be heard on Sunday, as will Doctors for Choice. No political parties were invited to present given that the recommendations and the report of the assembly will eventually be discussed by the Oireachtas.

Looking at the list of the 17 groups, it is fairly easy to work out which side each is coming from, except perhaps less obviously the Church of Ireland.

Its submission to the assembly states that it “has consistently expressed the view that abortion should be confined to situations of strict and undeniable medical necessity”, but “it has also since 1983 publicly questioned the wisdom of addressing such complex moral problems by means of amendments to the Constitution”.

However the Church stressed it “would wish to emphasise that to review or question the value of the Eighth Amendment at this time is not by implication to call for easy access to abortion”. The Church’s presentation will be made by the Bishop of Cashel, Ferns and Ossory Michael Burrows.

The presentation on behalf of the Irish Catholic Bishops Conference will be made by Kate Liffey, National Director of Catechetics. She will be accompanied by Bishop Brendan Leahy, chair of the Commission for Catholic Education and Formation, who will take part in the subsequent questions and answers sessions.

It is not yet publicly known who will present on behalf of all of the 17 groups, but from this vantage the pro choice side would appear to have more household names amongst them.

The assembly will hear from Rebecca Kiessling on behalf of Youth Defence, which describes itself as Ireland’s most pro active pro-life group; Women Hurt, a project initiated by women who regret their abortions; Every Life Counts, a support network for families whose child is diagnosed with a life limiting condition; Family and Life a registered charity which describes itself as Ireland’s largest pro-life organisation.

The Pro Life campaign is likely to have its presentation made by Cora Sherlock and Maria Steen will represent the high-profile Iona Institute.

On the other side, as it were, will be Ailbhe Smyth, convenor of the Coalition to Repeal the Eighth Amendment, an alliance of over 80 organisations; Orla O’Connor, director of the National Women’s Council of Ireland, with a membership which includes 170 member groups; Colm O’Gorman of Amnesty Ireland, and Annie Hoey president of the Union of Students in Ireland, representing students in third level education.

The Irish Family Planning Association will make a presentation, as will Parents for Choice — a campaign seeking choice in pregnancy and childbirth, which says it highlights the support of parents across Ireland for the Repeal of the Eighth Amendment.

Atheist Ireland has also been invited to speak. It submitted a paper with the title: Making Abortion Illegal is Not a Settled Moral Value — Our Laws Should Respect Individual Conscience.

One notable absence from this list is the group Terminations for Medical Reasons (TFMR) which involves parents affected by fatal foetal abnormalities. There will be personal testimony tomorrow from a woman who had a diagnosis of fatal foetal abnormality but the absence of the group remains controversial.

There is particular anger because of the inclusion of the Every Life Counts group which is opposed to termination in the case of non viable pregnancies. TFMR says that group only appeared in reaction to its own establishment.

Fatal foetal abnormality has certainly been a recurring theme of the assembly to date, but there has been a strong interest on behalf of the members in hearing about it. It certainly appears to be a curious decision by the assembly not to hear from this group, and it caused a lot of anger to be expressed on social media.

But we can really only judge fully their absence after the weekend’s events have concluded. Understandably they would argue that by then it will be too late.

They’ve been chosen to give a ‘range’ of the experiences which can be undergone by women, rather than an absolute balance of pro and anti abortion