Right to life is foundation of all human rights

The people of Ireland are being dispossessed of democracy and our Constitution. While claiming to protect the Constitution, Taoiseach Enda Kenny is crushing the democratic rights of elected representatives and voters.

The duty of protecting the rights of the people is in the remit of our President, yet there is a deafening silence from him.

There is no legal or Constitutional obligation for Enda Kenny, or any other politician, to legislate for the deliberate killing of an unborn. The Irish people have voted to maintain legal protection for the unborn child, in three referenda, as did Enda Kenny’s party, Fine Gael, along with the Labour Party, in 2002.

Mr Kenny, and other political leaders, cannot ignore or abandon the statutory law that protects unborn life from the moment of its existence; the 1861 Offences Against the Person Acts, 58 & 59, and again in the 1979 Health Act.

While these same Dáil leaders, party members, and senators are now calling for the repeal of this longstanding ‘All Ireland’ statutory law, attorney general for Northern Ireland, John F Larkin QC, says “abortion in Northern Ireland is a criminal offence”.

The taking of an innocent and defenceless human life can never be right, can never be justified.

Therefore, to decriminalise abortion is a contradiction of the most fundamental principle of the legal system, the principle that human life is to be safeguarded and defended at all times. The right to life is the foundation of all human rights.

The Government must respect the democratic and constitutional right of the people to have the final say, by referendum, on this matter.

Dana Rosemary Scallon

Claregalway

Co Galway