Ireland’s Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, has said he does not agree with the view that the unborn child in the womb should have no rights, writes Sarah Mac Donald. In an interview with The New York Times, the country’s youngest ever leader, who has been in office since June, addressed next year’s referendum on the pro-life Eighth Amendment, which gives equal rights to the mother and the child.
Referring to his medical training, he stated: “As a doctor, I would perform pregnancy scans and while I don’t accept the view that the unborn child, the foetus, if you prefer, should have equal rights to an adult woman, to the mother, I don’t share this view that the baby in the womb […] should have no rights at all.”
He continued: “There are people who take the view that human rights only begin after you’re born and that a child in the womb with a beating heart, the ability to hear, the ability to feel pain, should have no rights whatsoever. I don’t agree with that.”
His views put him on a collision course with some of his government partners who wish to see Ireland’s abortion laws significantly liberalised. Last week marked the 34th anniversary of the insertion of the Eighth Amendment into the Irish Constitution in September 1983. The Pro-Life Campaign (PLC) has said that owing to the amendment, there are thousands of people alive today whose lives were saved by its provision.
PLC spokesperson, Cora Sherlock, claimed that according to an independent report last year, there are, “at a conservative estimate, 100,000 people alive today in Ireland as a direct result of the Eighth Amendment”.
Mr Varadkar has not yet set a date for next year’s referendum, although he said the issue had been debated for a very long time. “I think people should have their say,” he told the Irish Times in July. Pope Francis is expected to visit Ireland next year for the World Meeting of Families in Dublin.
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