People Before Profit TD, Richard Boyd Barrett, says abortion bill could be supported if government dealt with Fatal Foetal Abnormalities and dropped criminalisation clause.
It’s not too late for government to remove criminal stigma from vulnerable women
In a statement, today, Richard Boyd Barrett, People Before Profit TD, announced that he would still be willing to vote for the abortion bill if the government would include a provision for terminations in the case of fatal foetal abnormalities and if Section 22, which criminalises women and doctors, was deleted.
The People Before Profit TD, told the Dail last night that there is strong legal opinion suggesting that abortion in the case of fatal foetal abnormalities is likely to be compatible with the constitution. He adds that “the Irish State argued this as part of their defence in the D case before the European Court of Human Rights.”
He also pointed out that “Minister Varadker has said the whole bill should be referred to the Supreme Court. This would be an opportunity to test this point and so Fatal Foetal Abnormalities should be included in the bill.”
Deputy Boyd Barrett’s amendment to delete section 22 will be discussed and voted on in the Dail this evening.
Richard Boyd Barrett said: “It is not easy to vote no to this bill, but I have made this decision after wide consultation with pro-choice groups. It is not just that this bill does not go far enough but it actually is a step backwards. Rather than giving women their constitutional rights it is unnecessarily restricting these rights. There is NO requirement arising from the X Case Judgement for the very restrictive terms included in the bill.
The bill also redefines the “unborn” in such a way that it places a block in the way of legislating in future to provide for Fatal Foetal Abnormalities.
Despite the restrictive nature of this bill it could still represent some step forward if the government would attempt to deal with the tragic circumstances of women who receive a diagnosis of Fatal Foetal Abnormalities and delete the section that criminalises and stigmatises women.
I appeal to the government to, even at this late stage, to include the provisions we have been arguing for and to accept my amendment to delete section 22 on criminalisation. If this happens then this bill could be supported and we could then move on to debate the wider issues in the context of a necessary campaign to repeal the 8th amendment.