Law of the land must remain supreme

The referendum to remove the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution may have passed by a substantial majority, but the debate on abortion is far from over.

The declaration by the Irish Catholic bishops, as set out in a document titled ‘Code of Ethical Standards for Healthcare’, to refuse to offer abortion and other services in public hospitals that they control is a worrying development that brings the hierarchy into direct conflict with the Government as preparations continue to put into legislation the outcome of the May referendum.

The edict issued by the Bishops Conference that it intends to break the law, when enacted, is an affront to the Government, the Oireachtas, and, most importantly, the Irish people who voted overwhelmingly to remove the amendment.

It also flies in the face of the stand taken in 2013 when management at both the Mater Hospital and St Vincent’s University Hospital issued statements saying they would abide by the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act, under which a pregnancy can be terminated if the woman’s life is in danger.

“The hospital’s priority is to be at the frontier of compassion, concern, and clinical care for all our patients,” the Mater statement said. “Having regard to that duty, the hospital will comply with the law as provided for in the Act.” St Vincent’s said it would follow “the law of the land”.

That law is now about to be changed but, under the new code, medical decisions on terminations and a range of other reproductive services, including contraception, will be determined in Catholic hospitals by bishops, not doctors.

That is intolerable and cannot be allowed to go unchallenged. Canon law must not be allowed to override or ignore Irish law and it must be made clear to the bishops that they are subject to the latter, like everyone else.

The statement has provoked much criticism, some of it shrill and unhelpful, like the description of the bishops by TD Bríd Smith as “backward”. There is nothing wrong with the bishops voicing their concern or opposition to the new law. Indeed, as Catholics, it would be strange if they didn’t.

The response by the Taoiseach and Minister for Health is more measured and sensible. Leo Varadkar said individual doctors would be allowed to refuse to perform abortions, but entire organisations would not. Simon Harris put the Government’s position more succinctly, tweeting: “Conscientious objection is for individuals, not institutions.”

The pronouncement by the bishops may be derided as the last sting of a dying wasp, but it harks back to the days when the hierarchy exercised enormous temporal as well as spiritual power in Irish society. It raises the ghost of Archbishop John Charles McQuaid, his influence on Éamon de Valera in drafting the 1937 Constitution, and his controversial role in the Mother and Child dispute with Noel Browne in 1951.

Twenty first-century Ireland is not a utopia, but neither does it resemble the heartless and puritanical society memorably described by writer Seán Ó Faoláin as a “dreary Eden”.

We cannot allow the all-male hierarchy of the Irish Catholic Church to take us back there.