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| Source: Dallas News |
It is now 35 years since the Irish people voted in favour
of the eight amendment on the right to life, but the issue has continue to
rumble on and on since.
I was only 4 years of age when the 8th Amendment was voted into law, but thanks to the wonderful people who put archive footage from the time into Youtube, For example:
and (skip to 15.59)
You can get a flavour as to just how bitter and divisive the campaigns on both sides were in 1983, a chorus of megaphone diplomacy that sadly continues to this day.
It's rather like that distinctive smell you remember from your late grandparents house down the country.
It may have been years since visited that dwelling, but you can still sense the odour as if you had only been there yesterday.
To say the position on this issue that the majority of
the population have taken is complicated, is putting it very mildly.
I was only 4 years of age when the 8th Amendment was voted into law, but thanks to the wonderful people who put archive footage from the time into Youtube, For example:
Source: TheY2JMc
and (skip to 15.59)
You can get a flavour as to just how bitter and divisive the campaigns on both sides were in 1983, a chorus of megaphone diplomacy that sadly continues to this day.
It's rather like that distinctive smell you remember from your late grandparents house down the country.
It may have been years since visited that dwelling, but you can still sense the odour as if you had only been there yesterday.
 |
| Source: Life Institute |
It is clear that many do not want to see another tragedy like the late Savita Halappanavar case, but at
the same time, they are firmly opposed to adopting the U.K. model.
People I know personally have articulated such a viewpoint to me.
People I know personally have articulated such a viewpoint to me.
An Irish
Times IPSOS/MRBI poll from last October showed a significant majority (55%) wanted to
see limited abortion in this country.
18% wanted to keep the eight amendment, whilst 19%.wanted it totally repealed.
Yet tune into a discussion on abortion on radio or TV, and nine times out of ten you will not see/hear somebody de facto representing the 55% on the panel.
As per usual it will only be persons representing the extreme ends of this debate.
Thanks to large amounts of funding from outside organisations, (for example Chuck Feeney, and evangelical groups in the U.S.) both the pro-life and pro choice sides of the debate have the resources to make themselves seen and heard to a level that far outweighs their actual physical size; very much drowning out any sort of rational reasoned debate on this subject.
18% wanted to keep the eight amendment, whilst 19%.wanted it totally repealed.
Yet tune into a discussion on abortion on radio or TV, and nine times out of ten you will not see/hear somebody de facto representing the 55% on the panel.
As per usual it will only be persons representing the extreme ends of this debate.
Thanks to large amounts of funding from outside organisations, (for example Chuck Feeney, and evangelical groups in the U.S.) both the pro-life and pro choice sides of the debate have the resources to make themselves seen and heard to a level that far outweighs their actual physical size; very much drowning out any sort of rational reasoned debate on this subject.
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| Source: Journal.ie |
For many years Fine Gael and Fianna Fail politicians
avoided this subject at all costs.
But this all changed on February 26th 2017.
The people had voted in the General election and Fine Gael quickly realised it needed the support of independents to stay in power.
Some of those independents made it quite clear in the negotiations to form a government, that abortion was a red line issue for them, and wanted legislative change.
Enda Kenny and Co. knew they had no choice but to grasp the nettle, regardless of how painful it might turn out to be down the line.
But this all changed on February 26th 2017.
The people had voted in the General election and Fine Gael quickly realised it needed the support of independents to stay in power.
Some of those independents made it quite clear in the negotiations to form a government, that abortion was a red line issue for them, and wanted legislative change.
Enda Kenny and Co. knew they had no choice but to grasp the nettle, regardless of how painful it might turn out to be down the line.
Thus on the 15th of October the newly created Citizens
Assembly met, and the 99 persons were given a run down by its chair Mrs. Justice
Laffoy, as to what lay ahead for them.
The enormity of their first task could not have been made more clearer when the Assembly received over 13,000 submissions on the issue of abortion, more than double those received by the Constitutional convention on the issue of marriage.
The enormity of their first task could not have been made more clearer when the Assembly received over 13,000 submissions on the issue of abortion, more than double those received by the Constitutional convention on the issue of marriage.
I contacted groups on both sides of the
debate to ask them as to their position on the citizens Assembly and the
challenges it faced.
The group ‘Students For Life’
in their submission, urged the Assembly, “As Members of the Citizens Assembly,
we encourage you to take a deeper closer look at what is being proposed by those
seeking repeal of the 8th Amendment” |
| Source: Open Democracy |
Another group to contact me on the Pro Life side, was the’ Life Institute’, they have urged people to look beyond the Citizens Assembly; “It’s important to remember that the really significant discussions on abortion are now taking place, not in the Assembly, but on doors, on the streets, in the public square, and with ordinary people.”
On the Pro Choice side, the Abortion Rights Campaign had
this to say in their submission:
“We hope that ours and other submissions will show the 99 citizens that a referendum to repeal the 8th is urgently needed, and that the Government will finally show some leadership on this issue and quickly implement the recommendations of the Assembly’s report”
It is no wonder that the
people sitting on the Citizens Assembly sought advice from experts on
constitutional law as they strove to come to a definitive proposal on the issue
of the eight amendment.“We hope that ours and other submissions will show the 99 citizens that a referendum to repeal the 8th is urgently needed, and that the Government will finally show some leadership on this issue and quickly implement the recommendations of the Assembly’s report”
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| Source: Imgur |
Trying to find a solution that would fit in with the majority viewpoint on this issue, will be a very hard job indeed, and media reports of their meetings bear this out.
And Fine Gael TD’s must also be feeling very uncomfortable at the thought there is little or no road left to kick the can down this time.
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