The Pro-Life Campaign (PLC) has reiterated its call for a constitutional referendum to ban abortion totally. It did so in a submission to the All-Party Oireachtas Committee on the Constitution. The deadline for submissions expired yesterday.
The campaign yesterday released its submission on the seven options outlined in the Government Green Paper on the subject, in response to the invitation issued by the all-party committee, which is examining the issue. The committee specifically asked for observations on the seven options before making its recommendations on how to proceed.
The options include a complete constitutional ban on abortion; amending the Constitution to allow for the Supreme Court ruling which permits abortion to save the life of the mother, but removing suicide as a risk; allowing for abortion in the circumstances ruled on by the Supreme Court, including suicide; legislating to limit this; repealing Article 40.3.3 of the Constitution and introducing a more liberal abortion regime than that allowed for by the Supreme Court decision.
The PLC comes down unequivocally on the side of the first option, despite the doubts expressed in the Green Paper about its workability. It did so because, according to the submission, "it respects the principle that everyone - whether born or unborn - is entitled to have his or her life protected from direct attack.
"It is in harmony with medical ethics. It leads to doctors treating pregnant women in a unique situation that involves two patients and ensuring that the best of medical care is given to the mother and her unborn child.
"The first option represents what the Eighth Amendment was intended to achieve and universally understood to have achieved."
Responding to criticism of this option in the Green Paper it says: "Other procedures (than induced abortion) which may impact on the unborn child in a harmful - even fatal - way are not what is sought to be restricted. Pregnant women are perfectly entitled to receive all necessary medical treatment even where this detrimentally affects the unborn child as an unintended side-effect."
It states that the ethical guidelines of the Medical Council are based on this principle. Quoting the reference in the Green Paper to a possible incompatibility between an absolute constitutional ban on abortion and the European Convention on Human Rights, it says: "The Pro-Life Campaign regards any such potential incompatibility as being an added reason why the Constitution should prescribe such a prohibition.
"It is essential that the electorate be given the opportunity to reject induced abortion if that is their wish," it says. "The first option is the only one that offers this opportunity."