The proposed amendment to the Constitution will "criminalise the most marginalised and vulnerable" in society and place Ireland on a par with Iran and Afghanistan, the Alliance for a No Vote in Galway has said.
Ms Sinéad Kennedy of the Socialist Workers' Party, who addressed a meeting hosted by the alliance in Eyre Square on Wednesday night, said the amendment was an incredibly worrying and draconian piece of legislation, which was deeply offensive to women.
Recent statements made by the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, and the Attorney General, Mr Michael McDowell, suggested that women were "not to be trusted" and would "lie and collude with psychiatrists" to obtain an abortion, she said. It was also "derogatory to the medical profession".
The main point of the proposal was to overturn the decision on the right to travel made in the X case, which took place 10 years ago this coming weekend, Ms Kennedy said.
"The people voted in a referendum in November that year and made it clear that they refused to overturn a Supreme Court decision on this, yet now they are being asked to do so, 10 years later. A Yes vote will also criminalise women who try to perform an abortion themselves," she said.
"Ireland will be the only country in the world, apart from Iran and Afghanistan, that makes criminals of women themselves rather than of those who perform the operation." It could also put women at risk, as life-saving terminations would be restricted to certain hospitals and there was no provision for emergencies in other areas.
Ms Kennedy, who was involved with the Women on Waves abortion information ship's visit to Dublin last year, said she believed the morning-after pill would not be protected by the proposed legislation. A Yes vote would also endanger the lives of women and girls by denying health boards the power to take a suicidal rape victim, such as the girl in the 1997 C case, abroad for an abortion.
Mr Niall Ó Brolcháin, the Green Party's candidate in Galway West, said women needed to be given the opportunity to air their views on the issue. Much of the difficulty with the legislation as it stood stemmed from the fact that men were responsible for framing it, he said.
Mr Ó Brolcháin said remarks made by the Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources, Mr Fahey, on North-West Radio on Wednesday were absolute nonsense. He believed the referendum was taking place because of a promise the Taoiseach had made to a couple of Independent TDs, and the timing of the vote had been set for very political reasons.
Ms Margaretta D'Arcy of Women in Media and Entertainment said the referendum agenda related to control of women and it was an attempt to "put them back into the 19th century where they were mad or bad". The proposed amendment represented an attack on all women, she said, and men had to stand with women and show their support.
The Alliance for a No Vote is supported by Doctors for Choice, Network of Rape Crisis Centres, the Irish Family Planning Association, the Labour Party, the Socialist Workers' Party and the Green Party among others.