Ireland – Committee finishes considering abortion legislation

Committee finishes considering abortion legislation

Thursday, 8 Nov 2018
By Ailbhe Conneely, RTÉ News Political reporter

Consideration of the Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy Bill at Committee Stage has ended tonight following three days of examination.

The Select Oireachtas Committee on Health spent three days discussing 180 amendments to the legislation.

The Minister for Health did not accept any changes to the legislation.

Continued: https://www.rte.ie/news/politics/2018/1108/1009600-abortion-legislation-committee/

Ireland – Harris says abortion legislation doesn’t mention the word ‘abortion’ for legal reasons

Harris says abortion legislation doesn't mention the word 'abortion' for legal reasons
The Health Minister also said he wants the Bill to be inclusive of members of the trans community.

Nov 6, 2018

SIMON HARRIS HAS said the word ‘abortion’ is not mentioned in the Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy Bill due to legal advice.

The Health Minister and members of the Oireachtas Health Committee are meeting today to consider amendments to the Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy Bill.

A number of TDs want the wording of the Bill to be changed, with Solidarity–People Before Profit TD Bríd Smith saying not using the word ‘abortion’ is an “obfuscation and a deliberate ignoring what’s going on here”.

Continued: https://www.thejournal.ie/abortion-legislation-ireland-2-4324746-Nov2018/

Ireland – Nine TDs want law to ensure aborted foetuses are buried or cremated

Nine TDs want law to ensure aborted foetuses are buried or cremated
A number of TDs have put down amendments ahead of the three-day discussion of the proposed abortion legislation next week.

Fri Nov 2, 2018

ANTI-ABORTION TDS have proposed that the remains of a foetus be either buried or cremated following termination of pregnancy.

The measure is just one of several amendments put down ahead of the three-day discussion of the proposed abortion legislation at the Oireachtas Health Committee next week.

Continued: https://www.thejournal.ie/abortion-law-burial-foetus-4319054-Nov2018/

Ireland – TDs criticise Health Minister over new abortion law

TDs criticise Health Minister over new abortion law

Thursday, 25 Oct 2018 16:33
By Ailbhe Conneely, RTÉ News Political reporter

A number of deputies who campaigned for a No vote in the recent abortion referendum have accused the Minister for Health of failing to engage meaningfully with them over the Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy Bill.

Independent deputies Mattie McGrath, Michael Collins, Carol Nolan, Peter Fitzpatrick and Danny Healy-Rae said that while the public voted to remove the Eighth Amendment from the Constitution, they did not vote in favour of the Bill in its current form.

Continued: https://www.rte.ie/news/politics/2018/1025/1006625-abortion-bill/

Abortion debate: Ireland’s most Catholic times were its ‘least Christian’

Abortion debate: Ireland’s most Catholic times were its ‘least Christian’
Minister of State opposes ‘purposeful destruction’ of a viable pregnancy

Jan 18, 2018
Michael O'Regan, Marie O'Halloran

Ireland was at its least Christian point during its most Catholic years, Fine Gael TD Kate O’Connell has told the Dáil debate on abortion.

Ms O’Connell, who supports the repeal of the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution, which guarantees the equal right to life of the unborn, said the position of the Catholic Church had been sewn into the Constitution in 1937, two years after the sale, advertising and importation of contraceptives was banned.

Continued: https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/oireachtas/abortion-debate-ireland-s-most-catholic-times-were-its-least-christian-1.3360353

Ireland: Cabinet gets free vote on both abortion bills

Cabinet gets free vote on both abortion bills
Stephen O’Brien, Political Editor

January 14 2018, The Sunday Times

Fine Gael cabinet ministers will have a free vote on the “repeal the eighth” referendum bill in March, and also on a bill next autumn to permit abortion on request up to 12 weeks if the referendum is passed.

Senior government sources say ministers will have complied with the principle of collective cabinet responsibility if they instruct Simon Harris, the health minister, to draft a bill and prepare a referendum to repeal article 40.3.3. of the constitution, which confers an equal right to life on “the mother” and “the unborn”. Individual ministers would then be free to vote against that legislation in the Dail.

Continued: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/cabinet-gets-free-vote-on-both-abortion-bills-z6rvrqlmd

Ireland: Abortion and the eighth amendment: putting it up to the politicians

Abortion and the eighth amendment: putting it up to the politicians
The abortion committee has voted in favour of repealing the eighth amendment — now it’s up to the Dail

Justine McCarthy
December 17 2017

After 13 weeks, 16 meetings, 47 witnesses and sporadic outbreaks of umbrage, a stunned silence suddenly descended on committee room three in the basement of Leinster House on Wednesday evening. The Oireachtas committee on the eighth amendment had just voted to recommend the repeal of the constitution's most divisive clause, the 34-year ban on abortion.

“Should we clap or what?” asked Brid Smith, a Solidarity-People Before Profit TD who has told how she took a boat to England in 1985 to have a pregnancy terminated. Laughter rippled through the public gallery and around the horseshoe-shaped committee desk. It stopped where Rónán Mullen, an independent senator, and the TDs Mattie McGrath, an independent, and Peter Fitzpatrick of Fine Gael sat together, stony-faced.

Continued at source: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/ireland/abortion-and-the-eighth-amendment-putting-it-up-to-the-politicians-fjz8f0pzm

Ireland: May timetable for abortion referendum – Tánaiste

May timetable for abortion referendum - Tánaiste
Three anti-abortion members of the Oireachtas committee on the Eighth Amendment to boycott final meeting

Thu, Dec 14, 2017
Sarah Bardon

The Government is working to a timetable for a referendum on abortion in May, Tánaiste Simon Coveney has said.

He said most of the work on the Bills is expected to be completed by mid-March and he appealed to TDs to show leadership, with a respectful debate on an issue that “will divide households”.

Continued at source: https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/may-timetable-for-abortion-referendum-t%C3%A1naiste-1.3326633

Ireland: Abortion limit of 22 weeks is not enough, says doctor

Abortion limit of 22 weeks is not enough, says doctor

Ellen Coyne
November 30 2017

Women would be rushed into deciding to terminate a pregnancy because of a foetal abnormality if doctors were working under term limits, a medical expert has said.

Peter Thompson, a consultant in foetal medicine at Birmingham Women’s and Children’s hospital, told the Oireachtas abortion committee that a woman would feel they had only one week to decide if terminations for foetal anomalies were limited to 22 weeks.

Continued at source: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/abortion-limit-of-22-weeks-is-not-enough-says-doctor-fl8wh2fvj

Ireland: Experts challenged at Eighth Amendment committee over Dutch abortion laws

Experts challenged at Eighth Amendment committee over Dutch abortion laws
Updated / Thursday, 23 Nov 2017

The number of babies born with Down Syndrome in the Netherlands has not decreased with the introduction of prenatal screening, an Oireachtas committee has heard.

That is according to Eva Pajkrt, a Professor of Obstetrics at the University of Amsterdam, who is before the Oireachtas Eighth Amendment Committee.

She was addressing concerns expressed by Fine Gael TD Peter Fitzpatrick that screening would result in fewer babies with Down Syndrome being born.

Continued at source: https://www.rte.ie/news/politics/2017/1123/922355-abortion-committee/