A LEADING anti abortion campaigner has accused members of the Supreme Court of lacking the "philosophic resources" to properly interpret the Constitution.
Prof William Binchy, Regius Professor of Law in Trinity College, Dublin, and legal adviser to the Pro Life Campaign, said members of the Supreme Court had used "primitive" philosophic tools in their consideration of a number of so called "right to life" issues in recent years.
He referred in particular to last year's case in which a woman, in what appeared to be a permanently vegetative state, had her feeding withdrawn following a decision of the Supreme Court. "The philosophic tools that they used to analyse the problem were of a primitive nature," said Prof Binchy. "They themselves have not given any indication that they have the resources to resist a euthanasia argument if that argument were put before them," said Prof Binchy.
He was speaking at a seminar for over 250 anti abortion activists at the Pro Life Campaign's summer seminar at All Hallows College, Dublin, on Saturday.
"They are good conscientious people," he continued. "The argument is not that the judges are in some sense engaging in a process of transforming our values." What was more alarming, he said, was that "people of goodwill don't seem to have the philosophic resources and philosophic ability to be able to see what is in the Constitution and to act accordingly". Prof Binchy noted that Judge Egan had dissented from the majority judgment of the Supreme Court in this case.
He also accused the Supreme Court of having "practically wrecked" the fundamental rights and provisions of the Constitution, and specifically the protection for the unborn, in its judgments following the passing of the referendums on travel and abortion information in 1992.
Prof Binchy said it was "alarming" that our rights had become formable and reformable simply at a legal level and reiterated his organisation's call that the Government should give the electorate "a real choice on the issue of abortion" by formulating a constitutional amendment to protect the unborn.
The seminar was also addressed by Prof Mary Ann Glen don, Professor of Law at Harvard University, Bostor, and head of the Vatican delegation to the UN Women's Conference in Beijing in 1995. Prof Glendon warned the seminar to beware of the advance of "individualistic libertarian rights" similar to those promoted in the US.
"Your task is to try to teach that there is no such thing as a little killing', that you begin small and the next thing you know you re off to the races," she said.
The seminar also heard from Dr Joanne Angelo, a Boston psychiatrist dealing in post abortion trauma, and a Professor of Philosophy from Louisiana, Father William Maestri, who called on members of the anti abortion movement to be "happy warriors".
He said the pro life antiabortion movement sometimes gave the impression it was concerned that "somewhere, someone was having a good time".