DUBLIN, December 13, 2001 (LSN.ca) – In a shocking move, the Catholic Bishops of Ireland are publicly supporting abortion legislation which the Vatican has explicitly opposed. A release issued by the Irish Episcopal Conference Wednesday said “We welcome and support the new proposal.” The proposal in question is the Human Life and Pregnancy Bill, which has already passed one of the Houses of Irish Parliament.
The bill has one positive aspect in that it overrules the Supreme Court ruling which allowed abortion in the case of a threat to the life of the mother, but included a mother’s threat of suicide as allowable grounds. However, the new Bill’s unacceptability for many is that it defines abortion to be the destruction of unborn human life after “implantation” in the womb. The wording would effectively allow the use of the abortifacient morning after pill. It would give significant legal reinforcement to the international effort by abortion supporters to arbitrarily and unscientifically re-define human life as beginning at implantation rather than fertilization. The law would also continue to permit dissemination of information on abortion and travel abroad to countries where it is legal. The legislation calls for a referendum in the spring to accordingly amend the pro-life Constitution and underpin the new legislation.
Immediately after the Vatican criticized the legislation at a Rome conference, an Irish pro-life group told media that a source within the Irish hierarchy revealed that the Irish Bishops would support the legislation. Cardinal Alfonso Trujillo, the President of the Pontifical Council for the Family, said of the Irish legislation: “The situation is delicate in Ireland but we expect that the Bishops will react against the proposals”. The unidentified source told the Pro-Life Campaign Trujillo’s comments “do not represent the views of the Hierarchy.”
The Irish Episcopal Conference argued that the pro-life constitution is interpreted in accordance with the Supreme court ruling allowing abortion for the threat of suicide and thus the legislation, in banning this exception would be preferable to the status quo. The UK Society for the Protection of Unborn Children responded with consternation to the decision of the Irish bishops to support the new proposal.The National Director of SPUC in the UK, John Smeaton, said: “The action of the Bishops in supporting the wording of this referendum is deplorable. They are giving credence to a proposal that suggests that early abortion can be discounted. The suggested wording has other serious flaws besides.” SPUC urges “the Irish people to stand by their prophetic commitment to the rights of the unborn child.”
SPUC recalled that in the 1992 referendum on abortion, the Irish Bishops advised that people could legitimately vote to allow advertising and travel arrangements for abortions abroad. “These proposals were successful, and appear to have had a damaging impact on the number of Irish women travelling to Britain for abortions,” charges SPUC.
See the text of the Irish Episcopal Conference release: https://www.catholiccommunications.ie/Pressrel/12-december-2001.html
See the SPUC release on the issue: https://www.spuc.org.uk/releases/20011212.htm