The killing of "innocent human life, at any stage from conception to natural death, is gravely morally wrong," according to the Irish Bishops' Conference. This was stated in its submission to the Interdepartmental Working Group which drafted the Green Paper on Abortion, and repeated to the All-Party Oireachtas Committee on the Constitution when it took submissions on the issue.
The proposed Bill, which is to be attached to the Constitution as a schedule, protects "human life in pregnancy" only from implantation in the womb. This takes place some days after conception.
Referring to its view that "innocent human life" must be protected from conception, the submission continued: "This is the clear and universal teaching of the Catholic Church. It should not be labelled as an 'extremist' or 'fundamentalist' view held by some Catholics."
The submission went on to state that the Bishops' Conference was "strongly and unanimously" of the view that the only acceptable option was a constitutional ban on abortion which would guarantee the right to life of the unborn child. It also wanted to recognise existing medical practice where the loss of the foetus is the indirect result of treatment necessary to save the life of the mother.
It stated that the mother and the unborn child have equal rights to life. Referring to medical procedures which result in the death of the foetus, it continued: "An expectant mother with a life-threatening illness must receive the urgent medical treatment which is truly indispensable for the saving of her life."
The bishops, who were accompanied by Rev Paul Tighe, lecturer in moral theology, and Ms Ann Power, lecturer in jurisprudence, elaborated on this submission in the oral hearings of the Committee on the Constitution.
In response to a question about the Church's position on when human life begins, Father Tighe said: "The arguments ... that human life begins at the moment of conception are the most convincing arguments .... the church statement says from the first moment of conception that new human being has the right to be treated as a human person and has the right to have its life protected."
Asked to elaborate on the church's position that a rape victim had the right to take medical advice with a view to preventing conception, Ms Power said: "If contraception is actually administered so as to prevent ovulation, I think, in those circumstances, clearly we are not dealing with two lives, we are dealing with one woman's life and the possibility of preventing ovulation.
"Where in circumstances it has been established, and it can be established, I believe, that ovulation has occurred, then reason dictates that we deal with both human beings in exactly the same way...
"Where it is a question of preventing ovulation actually taking place, preventing fertilisation taking place, I don't think there would be a difficulty in those circumstances, but where we can know that we are dealing with two lives, then that is what we are dealing with and, in those circumstances, the duty is towards both people."
In response to a question as to the type of amendment they would like to see, Father Tighe said: "I think the general principle one would want to ensure ... would be some statement of the principle of the value of human life. A second would be a prohibition on the direct and intentional taking of life."
The bishops also answered a number of questions aimed at clarifying the distinction they made between "direct" and "indirect" abortion.