‘Safe’ abortion zones Bill a threat to freedom of religion, belief and expression, says Catholic Primate

A Bill to be discussed in the Seanad has “potentially wide implications for freedom of religion and speech”, and increased fears that such freedoms were “being undermined”, Catholic Primate Archbishop Eamon Martin has said. The legislation was “disproportionate”, he said.

Archbishop Martin was referring to the Health (Termination of Pregnancy Services) (Safe Access Zones) Bill 2023, the second stage of which is to be debated in the Seanad on Thursday. If passed it will ensure that safe access zones are provided outside clinics to prevent harassment or intimidation of pregnant women seeking a termination.

“The imposition of so-called `safe’ abortion zones will further silence the voice of the innocent unborn. Given that the law already prevents harassment and intimidation, I believe the new legislation represents a disproportionate response with potentially wide implications for freedom of religion and speech,” Archbishop Martin has said.

[ Woman carrying baby with fatal foetal anomaly refused termination, Dáil hears ]

“Harassment laws are already in place to prevent intimidation,” he said, and the introduction of such zones “increases fears that freedom of religion, belief, expression and association are being undermined and open to attack”.

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The planned sanctions would “disproportionately shut down the rights of those who wish to peacefully and prayerfully offer support and alternative options and to save the lives of innocent unborn children,” he said.

“What next?” How long before it is deemed unlawful to openly express in Ireland the reasonable opinion that there are two lives in every pregnancy worth protecting – the life of a mother and the life of her unborn child?” he asked. Would those opposed to abortion “be told that they are not free to express these beliefs anywhere in a public forum?”

It had “never been more important to courageously witness to the inviolable dignity of every human life”, he said. Discussion about abortion in recent years had made people more aware of the pressures a pregnant woman can be under. “Tragic, and sometimes desperate, situations like these will not go away just because abortion centres are ‘sealed off’ from peaceful vigils.”

It was “perfectly reasonable to want to reach out in compassion to help vulnerable women and to be free to protect the life and wellbeing of both a mother and her unborn child. Every human life is a precious gift from God – including the lives of all mothers and their unborn children. This remains true, always and everywhere,” he said.

The right to life was not conferred by any human law, “rather it is God’s most precious gift to us. The innocent life in the womb is not a ‘something’; it is a ‘someone’. Science confirms that it is, in reality, a little girl or boy at a very early stage in her or his life.”

To believe that was “not something to be ashamed of, or to be excluded from public discourse, censored from newspaper columns, shut down in debates, or kept out via ‘safe access zones’! It is something we should be able to shout from the rooftops: all human life is sacred and precious! Choose life!” he said

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