In less than 3 wks 350 registered nurses & midwives have signed this petition to @SimonHarrisTD Press conference today at 12.30pm in The Dangan Room The Merrion Hotel @rtenews @IrishTimes @IrishCathNews @BreakfastNT @MichealMartinTD @campaignforleo @Independent_ie @irishexaminer https://t.co/JW1RPTGZvN
— Nurses & Midwives 4Life Ireland (@Nurses4lifeIrl) November 27, 2018
This afternoon.
Merrion Hotel, Dublin 2
A press conference for Nurses and Midwives 4 Life addressed by pro life independent TD Michael Healy Rae.
Above left Nurses and Midwives 4Life Vice ChairMargret McGovern, RGN, PRO Fiona McHugh, a clinical paediatric nurse specialist and Lecturer in Nursing Mary E. Fitzgibbon
The group claim 350 nurses and midwives on the NMBI Register have signed a petition asking the Minister for Health “to protect freedom of conscience in not forcing us to participate in abortions”.
Meanwhile…
As the Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018 enters Report Stage, the Irish Family Planning Association (IFPA) has said the Bill needs significant amendment if it is to fulfil the promise of the Yes vote in the May referendum. Parliamentarians must take the criminal law out of medical consulting rooms and replace it with a provision guaranteeing access to abortion care.
IFPA Chief Executive Niall Behan said: “This legislation needs to facilitate access to quality abortion care. But instead of supporting doctors to provide best practice care, the Bill criminalises abortion and leaves healthcare providers vulnerable to vexatious allegations by those who oppose abortion. These criminal sanctions are already having a chilling effect on doctors.”
Mr Behan continued: “Continued criminalisation means the threat of sanctions – including a possible 14-year prison sentence – will be hanging over doctors, affecting the care they provide to women and girls. And some may decide not to provide abortion care at all.”
The IFPA says there are multiple provisions in the Bill which serve only to act as barriers to abortion access.