Tag Archives: Abortion bill

dail21Further to this.

‘Bewildered student’ writes:

Can I give some background to why this apparently trivial “horseplay” is a big deal to every woman and man I have spoken to about this today.

Last night, as our politicians gathered to vote on a landmark Bill many women in Ireland have been waiting for more than 20 years, a Fine Gael male politician pulls a female colleague onto his lap and then, after letting her go, extends his arm and gives her a pat/smack on the bottom as she hurries up the stairs.

It happened just before the Dáil voted on an unsuccessful amendment proposed by Sinn Féin TD Peadar Toibin which effectively called for the deletion of the suicide clause from the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill.

Earlier, Labour TD Alex White recounted 14-year-old rape victim X’s mental state in 1992. He told how she told her mother she wanted to throw herself down the stairs and, on another occasion, wanted to throw herself under a train.

Mr White also recounted how, in the presence of a Garda, when X’s father said the ‘situation was worse than a death in the family’, X said: ‘Not if it was me’.

This could not be more serious.

The legislation that’s being brought through the Dáil revolves around a 14-year-old girl being raped.

Who knows, X may have even possibly been watching the historic proceedings last night.

They were talking about her after all.

 

Irish MP apologises for grabbing female colleague (Henry McDonald, Guardian)

Previously: Give Them Enough Grope

90306849Pro life supporters last night.

This evening’s abortion bill debate will continue at 5pm until midnight with a possible extension until 3am. Hic.

(Laura Hutton/Photocall Ireland)

Also…

ydPro-choicers on Kildare Street, Dublin, last night.

Rude words.

Thanks Conor Horgan

Also:

From The Irish Family Planning Association:

Figures published today by the UK Department of Health show that in 2012, a total of 3,982 women with Irish addresses accessed abortion services in the UK.

IFPA Chief Executive Niall Behan said: “It is unacceptable that women in Ireland must rely on UK health services to provide access to safe and legal abortion. The ban on lawful abortion services in Ireland does not deter women from having abortions; it places the burden of accessing this necessary health service on women.

“In the last ten years the IFPA has received over 40,000 calls to our national helpline and provided non-directive counselling to more than 12,000 women. Every day we hear from women who have to leave this country to access health services that should be available in Ireland.”

 

Thanks Grace Wilentz

IFPA

 

 

dail dail2

 

2.40am

A bizarre, lairy, lap-topped encounter in our state parliament during the historic  abortion bill debate.

Consensual harmless fun or something uglier?

Watch then DECIDE.

Stay for the bottom smack.

It’s very icky.

Original Tumblr post

Thanks SH

sarah

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hf8-wNL_m5w

Bodger actually choked on his marmalade soldiers.

Sarah de Nordwall of Catholic Voices appeared on BBC Breakfast this morning to discuss the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill.

To correct the fibbing provide balance, Sarah was joined by Sarah Malone of the Abortion Rights Campaign.

02/07/2013. Abortion legislation vote. Rebel Fine02/07/2013. Abortion legislation vote. Rebel Fine 02/07/2013. Abortion legislation vote. Rebel Fine 02/07/2013. Abortion legislation vote. Rebel Fine 02/07/2013. Abortion legislation vote. Rebel Fine 02/07/2013. Abortion legislation vote. Rebel Fine

 

From top: Brian Walsh, Billy Timmins, Terence Flanagan and Peter Mathews being met by Caroline Simons of the Pro Life Campaign outside Leinster House last night.

The four Fine Gael TDs were expelled last night from the parliamentary party after voting against the second stage of the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill.

So what is happening to the bill?

stages of a bill Abortion legislation debate to resume in Dáil (RTE)

Extract via Politics in the Republic of Ireland. Edited by John Coakley and Michael Gallagher Fifth Edition (Routledge)

(Laura Hutton / Photocall Ireland)

90299316

“There is an emerging consensus in Ireland which suggests that having a sense of morality has something to do with the Catholic Church. It is automatically assumed that if you consult your conscience, you are essentially consulting with Rome. This is deeply worrying. It is a lazy way of attempting to undermine the worth of an argument, without actually dealing with the substance. This is not just a Catholic issue, any more than it is a Protestant or Muslim issue. This is not a religious issue. It is a human rights issue.”

Lucinda Creighton in her Dáil speech yesterday claimed her view on the abortion bill is not a religious one.

Feminist activist, Anthea McTeirnan had this to say last weekend at the Empowering Women Through Secularism conference:

The Catholic Church in Ireland stands alone on the issue of reproductive rights.

What do human rights organisations such as Amnesty Ireland and the Irish Council of Civil Liberties (ICCL) have to say?

Dr Alan Brady of the ICCL said the following at the Oireachtas hearings in January:

Ireland is legally obliged under Article 46 of the European Convention on Human Rights expeditiously to implement judgments against it by the Strasbourg Court.

The Government must now, at an absolute bare minimum, introduce abortion legislation and regulations, including in relation to the issue of suicidal ideation. This is no longer a matter for debate.

The most recent case law from the Strasbourg Court on the issue of reproductive rights indicates that Council of Europe states are obliged to ensure that women seeking lawful terminations are not exposed to inhuman and degrading treatment contrary to Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Applying this principle in an Irish context, it seems clear to the ICCL that the current treatment of women with pregnancies involving a defined set of fatal foetal abnormalities (i.e. where it is clear that carrying a foetus to term will not result in a viable life) potentially falls foul of Article 3 of the Convention.

Amnesty Ireland is also clear in its stance:

“While government deliberates the legislative and regulatory steps in response to the European Court of Human Rights decision in the A, B & C case, it is obliged under international human rights law to take all necessary steps immediately to ensure women’s access to lawful abortion.”

Amnesty International stressed that any legislative action that falls short of affirming the X case or which seeks to restrict lawful abortion would constitute a row back of human rights.

“Human rights law is also clear on the issue of decriminalisation,” noted Colm O’Gorman, Executive Director of Amnesty International Ireland.

(Sam Boal / Photocall Ireland)