Ireland's parliament approves 'life-saving' abortion

Lawmakers in the Republic of Ireland have voted to legalise abortion under certain conditions for the first time.

The move, approved by a 127-31 vote in the lower house (Dáil), would authorise a termination when doctors deem that a woman is at risk of taking her life. It needs upper house endorsement, too.

The vote follows the case of an Indian woman who died in hospital after she was refused an abortion.

The debate revealed deep splits in the predominantly Catholic country.

Opponents say the bill could lead to more widespread abortion.



Anti-abortion campaigners say that the bill will allow the intentional killing of the unborn for the first time in the Republic of Ireland.
For them, it is not just a religious but a human rights issue as they believe that in any pregnancy the mother and foetus have equal rights to life.

Others argue the bill is too limited as it does not allow for terminations in cases of rape or incest, or when there is a foetal abnormality.

Nor does it allow for termination when the foetus cannot survive outside the womb.
Uncertainty

Members of parliament (TDs) backed the proposal shortly after midnight, after two hotly debated sessions.

Those who support access to abortion say the bill ignores the fact that, on average, 11 women leave the country every day for an abortion in Britain.

Since a Supreme Court ruling in 1992, known as the X case, abortion has been constitutionally available when a woman's life, as distinct from her health, is at risk from the continued pregnancy.

X was a suicidal 14-year-old schoolgirl who had been raped by a neighbour and was initially prevented from leaving the country for an abortion in Britain.

Since then, the credible threat of suicide is, constitutionally, regarded as grounds for a termination.

But in the intervening years, until now, no government has introduced legislation to give doctors legal certainty on when an abortion can be carried out.

And that uncertainty provided part of the context for the Savita Halappanavar case.



She was a 31-year-old Indian dentist who was admitted to hospital in Galway in October 2012 while miscarrying.

She died a week later from septicaemia.
Her request for an abortion was turned down.

Her inquest heard that she could not get a termination at the time because her life was not in danger but, by the time her life was at risk, an abortion would have been too late to save her.

The Fine Gael-Labour coalition government says its proposed legislation will bring the law and constitution into line.

There have been consequences for TDs who did not support the changes proposed.

Fine Gael Junior Minister of State for European Affairs, Lucinda Creighton, voted against the government on the amendment. As a result, she was automatically expelled from the party.

She said she felt "deeply and strongly" that aspects of the bill were based on "flawed logic and absolutely zero medical evidence".

Last week, four other Fine Gael TDs, were removed from the party after they voted against the bill's first reading in the Dáil.

Sinn Féin TD Peadar Toibín also chose to vote against the amendment, which was supported by his party.

In a statement, Sinn Féin said all of its TDs had been "mandated" to vote for the legislation.

"The decision this evening by Peadar Toibín TD to vote against the Sinn Féin position is a serious breach of party rules," said Sinn Féin's party whip in the Dáil, Aengus Ó Snodaigh.

"As a consequence Peadar Toibín has been suspended from Sinn Féin for six months with immediate effect."

 

Pro-life people love being short-sighted and incapable of realizing that you cannot have your cake and eat it whole.

So, I'd say it's a victory for Ireland that they are growing grounds on freedom.

 

I didn't even know they were that much behind. They are very catholic.
It's a shame that a woman had to die because they denied her the abortion

 

Exactly. And the Catholic community is VERY strong and ever so present in Ireland, so it wouldn't be surprising that they'd hold such a conviction on life. Just this year, they've actually considered legalizing same-sex marriages there too.

Still, it's a beautiful country and quite "liberal" in other areas.

 

They are, it's a shame

 

A Indian woman died because of those Catholic rules and she was not Catholic.

 

True pro-lifers want everyone to live. The moderate ones like myself, are pragmatic about dangerous pregnancies. We realize that some times to save one life another has to be sacrificed. So in that aspect I don't have a problem with a law that allows abortions under life threatening cases. However, life is the most important thing (mother and child) and it should be preserved when ever possible. Life trumps everything.

 

Pragmatism like that can cause a lot of problems in the long run, especially if you're one who is a self-described fiscal conservative.

An abortion is a necessity for any unwanted pregnancy. What's the point in pushing restrictions when there are many cases to consider, especially for the individual families? If you don't want one personally, then it's perfectly fine. But if you're planning to bare a child with physical or mental defects, then you're putting yourself and society at risk.

I don't see how anyone could say that life is of value when it's purely just an emotional response.

 

Remember that pro-lifers make little distention between babies in the womb and out of it, they are both human life, just at different stages. Nobody would ever advocate killing a baby out of the womb, just because it's existence is a burden and/or an inconvenience. Pro-lifers don't think a pre-born person's life should be ended for convenience either.

 

Which is kind of ironic because these are the same people who would advocate the Death Penalty to those who committed a horrendous act and they are probably the same ones who actually prevented the mother from termination.

After all, we could prevent another George Zimmerman.

 

This. :smt023

 

Thank you! I'm a pro lifer too. No one could have typed this better.

 

If pro-lifers want life for everyone, why would they advocate the death penalty? I see these two groups thrown together all the time and it never makes sense to me. I'm pro-life. I believe God is the giver AND the taker of life.

 

You're fine to believe whatever you like, but everyone would love to hold that power of Judge, Jury and Executioner.

And quite frankly, you're correct that it wouldn't "make sense", but the logic behind it is that if somebody commits an act, they shall pay the price. In other words, they've forfeited their value and in essence, the reason to not let them live since they haven't shown their worthy value.

And yet, they would preserve those very people to keep them from being a mistake to come out of the womb.

 

And for the record, it's more accurate to assume that for the nine months inside the womb, they are merely parasites. And once out of the womb, once the umbilical cord has been severed, it's considered a human life. While inside? It's a potential threat.

 

It is not more accurate. It just helps your argument. You are defining things the way you want to to help your arguement. remember that at least half the dna in the baby is coming from the mother. I don't know of any parasites that are composed of half of their hosts.

Also, I feel the need to point out that most women are not committing abortion because of the fact that their child depends on them to live. They are more likley doing it because of financial reasons or maturity. Few women want to kill off their babies because they view them as parasites.

 

When I mean parasitic, I mean it relies heavily on the nutrients of the mother to sustain itself. Not only that, that parasite creates an issue for the mother, regarding growing inside of her and having her experience a plethora of issues that could be detrimental.

You were a parasite as well, and so was I. But when the umbilical cord was detached, we became truly human and independent. You cannot deny this fact.

 

Please don't ever father a child with that attitude.

 

I'm just brutally honest here. But we love to be PC about this very thing claiming that our children are "special" when they are clearly just people with potential worth. It's not granted simply because they live. They have to give themselves a meaning to live and to build value.

 

A large portion of the baby is still made up of the mother. Parasites tend not to be made up of the host. You are simply picking out similarities to make youself feel better about your argument.