Hard cases will not justify the repeal of the eighth amendment
Ireland’s outstanding record in safeguarding the lives of pregnant women while also prohibiting abortion contradicts pro-choice claims that abortion is needed to save women’s lives.
The case for repeal of the 8th Amendment is being made in cases where a woman is raped or the unborn baby has a fatal foetal abnormality. Regarding rape, in the recent high profile “C” case it emerged afterwards that the young woman at the centre of this case who had an abortion in England deeply regretted going through with it. Ryan Bomberger is a well known human rights campaigner in the US. He was born following rape and publicly thanked his birth mum for giving him life.
Ryan has movingly said: “We’re all wanted by someone.”
Regarding cases of fatal foetal abnormality, when people propose abortion for babies like this, they are making a negative judgement on the value of those babies’ lives. No one would dream of saying the law should not protect the right to life of, say, a three year old with a disability. Doctors have no way of knowing how long a child diagnosed with conditions such as anencephaly, Trisomy 13 or Trisomy 18, will live. They could live for months and even years after birth.
In the Protection of Life during Pregnancy Bill the principle of limited abortion in this country was conceded, that is it being allowed in cases where a woman is suicidal.
Once this principle was conceded, the pressure to allow abortion in other “hard” cases has been growing, with parties like Labour, the Social Democrats and AAA/People Before Profit openly having Repeal of the 8th in their pre-election manifestos.
It is a well known fact that those campaigning for abortion focus on hard cases. They know that once the principle is conceded, more available abortion will inevitably follow.
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