Irish bishops rap government report on abortion law

December 06, 2012: The Irish bishops’ conference has issued a statement criticizing a government commission’s report on the country’s abortion laws.

The “expert group” report recommended considering a series of possible changes in Irish law, while avoiding a new national referendum on the abortion issue. Irish legislators have observed that in the absence of a constitutional referendum, any new legislation broadening access to abortion might be found unconstitutional. Pro-life activists, meanwhile, have observed that the European court of Human Rights—whose ruling on an abortion case was the ostensible reason for the government’s decision to form the “expert group”—affirmed Ireland’s right to establish its own laws governing abortion.

In their critique of the report, the Irish bishops said that the expert group failed to address the grave moral problems inherent in abortion. The bishops noted that a sharp distinction must be made between medical treatments which might endanger the unborn child while saving the mother’s life, and actions directly intended to destroy the unborn child. “Abortion, understood as the direct and intentional destruction of an unborn baby, is gravely immoral in all circumstances,” the bishops said.

The bishops argued against a suggestion that abortion be allowed in cases where the mother’s mental health may be jeopardized, saying that such a standard would be unduly vague and open to abuse. “International experience shows that allowing abortion on the grounds of mental health effectively opens the floodgates for abortion,” the bishops warned

Thousands of Irish pro-life demonstrators packed the street outside of the Dáil Eireann in Dublin for a Vigil for Life on Dec. 4, calling on the legislature not to pass any laws that would allow abortion. Attendees at the candlelight vigil included adults, children, college students, clergy and church groups, who asked the government to protect both mothers and their unborn babies.

While the Irish government has considered changes to abortion law since January, controversy erupted after the Oct. 28 death of Savita Halappanavar in a Galway hospital. She died of an infection follwing a miscarriage after reportedly asked for an abortion.

The journalist who broke the news about Halappanavar's death has admitted that the first reported version of the story may be based on faulty recollection on the part of the woman's husband. Kitty Holland's Nov. 14 story for The Irish Times suggested that Savita Halappanavar died because elective abortion is illegal in the Republic of Ireland. It was headlined “Woman 'denied a termination' dies in hospital.”

Halappanavar's autopsy has revealed that she died of blood poisoning and E. coli ESBL, an antibiotic-resistant strain of the bacterium. Although an investigation into the case is ongoing, pro-abortion rights advocates have contended that an abortion would have saved her life.

Uí Bhriain said the vigil “remembered Savita and her baby, and we mourned the loss of their lives.” However, she said vigil participants ask that “the media and the political establishment now look at the cynical exploitation of this tragic death of a young mother, and seek to find the facts.”