Posted on 01/30/2018 7:58:10 AM PST by Olog-hai
Irish women are having abortions regardless of a near-total constitutional ban on terminating pregnancies, the country’s health minister said Tuesday in defense of a planned referendum that will ask voters whether the amendment should be repealed.
Health Minister Simon Harris said on Ireland’s RTE television that he is beginning work on a proposed abortion law that would be submitted to parliament if the May referendum removes the constitutional ban. The legislation would allow abortions during the first trimester, he said.
“Whether the Eighth Amendment is in our Constitution, or indeed not in our Constitution, abortion is a reality for Irish women,” Harris said. “I cannot close my eyes and block my ears to the fact that 3,265 of our citizens traveled to the U.K. in 2016” for abortions they could not obtain legally in Ireland. […]
The amendment enacted by referendum in 1983 makes predominantly Roman Catholic Ireland the most restrictive country in Europe on abortion. It commits authorities to defend equally “the right to life of the unborn” and “the equal right to life of the mother.” Abortion is legal only when a woman’s life is in danger. …
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Convenient murder
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