Posted on 03/08/2005 4:37:35 PM PST by Irish_Thatcherite
The [Irish] Government plans to ignore a key recommendation of the Irish Human Rights Commission (IHRC) concerning abortion legislation.
In its submission to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination, published yesterday on the eve of International Women's Day, the IHRC recommended "that the Government should introduce legislation to define the circumstances in which abortion can currently be legally carried out in Ireland".
Responding to the recommendation last night, a Department of Health spokesman said: "The Government has no plans for legislation in regards to abortion."
However, Labour Party deputy leader and spokeswoman on health Liz McManus supported the IHRC recommendation, saying "it makes sense and is in line with the Whittaker group recommendations on the Constitution".
She said that although then taoiseach Albert Reynolds had promised such legislation in the event of the abortion referendum of 1992 failing, as it did, no legislation had been introduced.
The IHRC submission was launched in Dublin by Mrs Justice Catherine McGuinness of the Supreme Court who, while noting she was inhibited by her position from commenting on proposed constitutional or legislative change, said she hoped the submission had a wide circulation "and that many, if not all, its recommendations are put into effect".
The IHRC recommendation was not unanimous. Two of its 15 commissioners dissented. They were the regius professor of laws at Trinity College, Dublin, William Binchy and Suzanne Egan, barrister and lecturer at the faculty of law in University College Dublin.
As recorded in the submission published yesterday, Prof Binchy opposed the recommendation because "in his view legislation of this type would violate the human rights of unborn children up to the time of birth, denying them the right to life, dignity and equality, and would be inconsistent with the democratic will, since the referendum of 2002 demonstrated that the majority of voters oppose such legislation". Ms Egan's reasons for dissenting were not recorded but are understood to be similar.
Katherine Zappone, the chairwoman of the IHRC subcommittee that drafted the recommendation, said yesterday it was felt such legislation was necessary to deal with "the very limited circumstances involved" and particularly where the medical profession was concerned.
Ms Egan was a member of the sub-committee which looked at the Constitution from a gender equality perspective. Ms Zappone said the dissent of Ms Egan, and of Prof Binchy at full commission level, showed that membership of the commission reflected the broader society.
Explaining its recommendation, the IHRC referred to the 1992 X case, where it was held by the Supreme Court that abortion was permitted where a pregnancy was a real and substantial risk to the life of the mother. This included the possibility of suicide.
The IHRC said: "There is no definition of what is meant by the 'unborn' in Article 40.3.3 of the Constitution. In addition there is no expressed protection for appropriate medical intervention where the life of the mother is at risk, and there are no criteria for the assessment of a 'real and substantial' risk to the life of the mother."
They are trying to bring Gulags to Ireland Bump!
I believe you run a Pro-Life ping list, if you could do the honors.
The Catholic Church of Ireland has itself to blame as well.
Maybe... I'll have to think about that one..
As usual, the human rights of the human fetus are ignored by so-called "human rights" organizations.
I still can't believe that a formerly Catholic country such as Ireland ever approved the conscious, willful, premeditated murder of unborn children. I could see how a secularly drenched country like America could turn on the unborn, but the Ireland thing has always shocked me.
The X-Case is a classic example of Court activism - and it, like Roe vs Wade, ignored the will of the people.
So true. But it doesn't matter what the people of Ireland want - the euro-leftys are coming with their death cult defeatism and there aint' a thing we can do about it! We voted for unlimited abortion when we voted for the Nice treaty.
Bump!
"taoiseach"?
And I think the running of Nice II was unconstitutional, seeing we had rejected it, I'll check that out and post tomorrow evening - I'm going to bed now, this thread was last minute thing, I just happened to see the article on the Eircom homepage.
Good night!!
Sorry, I should have edited the page a bit more thoroughly, 'Taoiseach' is the title of the Irish Prime Minister, it is a Gaelic word roughly meaning 'chief'.
EWTN 7/16/99 NEW YORK (CWNews.com) 7/19/99 "
A UN committee focusing on women's rights has pressured governments to stop promoting motherhood and called on religions to change the interpretation of their sacred texts as part of a campaign to promote radical feminism, according to a Catholic pro-family group on Friday.
The Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute said the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women has used the 1979 Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) to put pressure on the 163 countries that have ratified it to implement their vision of feminism.
The committee recently directed the government of Libya to reinterpret the Koran, the sacred text of Islam, "in light of the provisions of the Convention." ....The Committee criticized Croatia for allowing "church-related organizations to adversely influence" women's rights.
It told the Dominican Republic that an "intermingling of the secular and religious spheres" is a "serious impediment to implementing the Convention." .....The group also admonished Armenia to "use the educational system and electronic media to combat the traditional stereotype of women 'in the noble role of mother,'" and the Czech Republic was criticized for "over-protective measures for pregnancy and motherhood." ..."
Ummmm. Just curious. When exactly is International Men's Day?
Abortion is illegal in Ireland.
Women have the right to information on abortion, and the right to travel to have an abortion.
But abortion - unless the life of the mother is seriously jeopardised - is illegal in Ireland.
Ping.
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