TV3 abortion debate hears familiar clashes between Yes and No camps

The campaign’s familiar clashes between the Yes and No camps were rehearsed for the final time on television last night, when TV3 hosted its debate on the abortion referendum.

Viewers will have heard little new in the arguments made by both sides, but the acrimony and personal antipathy that has bubbled under the surface (mostly) emerged in flashes as the Yes and No spokespeople clashed with each other and occasionally with the audience.

The Yes side was represented by Amnesty director Colm O’Gorman and Minister for Social Protection Regina Doherty, while the No side speakers were Maria Steen of the Iona Institute and Senator Ronan Mullen.

The debate was moderated by Pat Kenny, who bossed his studio guests and his audience around with his customary authority. Ms Steen began the debate by making the appeal to the middle ground voters to whom the No campaign has sought to pivot in recent days – nodding to the difficulty of the so-called “hard cases” and appealing for the support of pro-choice voters who believed that the Government’s proposals are “a step too far”.

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Immediately challenged

However, she was immediately challenged by Ms Doherty, who attacked the move as a “stunt”, declaring that not alone had anti-abortion campaigners opposed attempts to liberalise abortion laws in the past, many of them had opposed contraception, divorce and same sex marriage.

Doherty was probably the most effective of the speakers – her experience in dealing with interviews and television debates with a muscular presence on the part of the presenter stood her in good stead.

She was pugnacious and in the face of her opponents throughout, knew when to keep quiet, and hammered the simple messages about caring for women that have been the mainstay of the Yes side’s campaign.

Yes happier

Insofar as either side would be happier with the night’s work, it was probably the Yes side, and it was largely because of Doherty. Steen, the star of last week’s debate on RTÉ, got little her own way and was constantly talked over by, or talking over, other people herself.

Yes speaker Colm O’Gorman ran into difficulty with the audience early on and it was some time before he regained any presence in the debate. The second No speaker was Ronan Mullen, a veteran of such encounters.

If the No side wished to reach out to the middle ground, Mullen was not the man to do it. It would be hard to say that the debate changed anything about the campaign.

The No side’s belated pitch to the middle ground, to people who believe abortion should be available in some cases, but are uneasy about the 12 weeks proposal, did not get much traction here.

In summary, though, the debate was more a repetition of slogans, while members of the audience told their personal stories from pro-life and pro-choice perspectives. Both sides accused each of scaremongering; both had a point.