The Chair of the Irish bishops’ Task Group on Bioethics and Life has said Catholics must always speak out “courageously against unjust laws and practices which conflict with the right to life”.
Bishop Kevin Doran of Elphin was speaking following Taoiseach Leo Varadkar’s announcement that a referendum on the pro-life Eighth Amendment, which some pro-choice supporters want repealed, will be held in May or June next year.
The wording of the referendum has not yet been decided.
The timing of the vote is significant as it may come just weeks ahead of a likely visit by Pope Francis for the World Meeting of Families in August 2018.
If the referendum were to be held after Francis’ visit, some pro-choice lobbyists fear the charismatic Pope could sway the outcome towards a retention of the amendment, which was inserted into the constitution in 1983 and gives equal right to life to mother and unborn child.
In his homily for this year’s Day for Life at Sligo Cathedral, Bishop Doran called for prayers in “these challenging times” for politicians and healthcare professionals that they would have the “courage and wisdom to live up to their responsibilities to protect life while also respecting women”.
Referring to the legalisation of abortion in England in 1967, he noted that one in five pregnancies in Britain ends in abortion, and that 90 per cent of people who discover their child will be born with Down’s syndrome have a termination.
“This is not what we want for our children or for our society,” he stated as he asked how some politicians and healthcare professionals could justify to themselves their promotion of abortion.
On Saturday, thousands of pro-choice activists took to the streets of Dublin demanding the country’s abortion laws be liberalised.
Under Irish law, abortion is only permitted when the life of the mother is at risk. The maximum penalty for accessing an illegal abortion is 14 years in prison. A special all-party parliamentary committee is currently considering the report prepared by the Citizens’ Assembly, a group of 99 ordinary citizens formed to examine a number of topics referred to it by parliament. The Assembly met a number of times earlier this year to consider the issue.
It recommended that abortion should be made available in a range of circumstances including allowing abortion up to 22 weeks, and it called on the government to hold a referendum on the Eighth Amendment.
However, a number of Fine Gael government ministers are believed to feel the Assembly’s recommendations go too far and would have to be significantly amended before they could secure support in the Dáil or parliament and amongst the public.
Polls conducted by the Irish Times/Ipsos MRBI last May showed that the majority of Irish voters are opposed to abortion on demand. A majority support it in the case of rape, incest or child abuse, or if the foetus is diagnosed with a life-limiting condition.
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