PLC challenges Minister Reilly over call for repeal of 8th Amendment

The Pro Life Campaign has criticised the Minister for Children, James Reilly, over remarks he made in a Sunday newspaper, calling for repeal of the 8th Amendment.

Commenting on the interview, Pro Life Campaign Deputy Chairperson, Cora Sherlock said:

“It doesn’t surprise me in the least that Minister Reilly is seeking to present repeal of the 8th Amendment as an extremely restrictive measure. Every time he talks about changes to Ireland’s abortion laws he goes out of his way to stress that he doesn’t want to see an ‘abortion on demand’ regime here.

“He kept repeating this same line over and over again when as Minister for Health he introduced the controversial 2013 abortion law, a law that incidentally allows abortion up to birth based on a threat of suicide, even though medical evidence shows that abortion is not a treatment for suicidal feelings. Sadly, abortions have already taken place as a result of this law and babies have lost their lives. But there doesn’t appear to be any time to pause and reflect on this stark reality as the Minister and others focus on removing the 8th Amendment, which provides the last remaining protection for the unborn child.”


She continued:
“It is an appalling tragedy that families of babies with life-limiting conditions are returning home after aborting their child to discover when it is too late about the existence of perinatal palliative care as an alternative to abortion, where parents and families of babies with a terminal illness receive the supports and help to care for their son or daughter for whatever short length of time they survive. But with the focus almost exclusively on repeal of the 8th Amendment this life-affirming and positive side of the story is not getting the attention it deserves.


“Minister Reilly never turns down an opportunity to talk about widening the grounds for abortion but he has no track record on delivering proper perinatal palliative care provision in Ireland. He would be better served devoting some time to this as well as listening to parents who were pressured to go down the road of abortion in similar situations and now deeply regret the decision.”
Ms Sherlock concluded:


“The drop in support for abortion reflected in today’s Sunday Independent/Millward Brown poll is encouraging.”


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