The Government’s policy on abortion remains flawed and must be revisited following the publication of the number of terminations carried out last year, according to a number of campaign groups.
On Monday, Minister for Health Leo Varadkar revealed that 26 terminations were carried out in 2014 under the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act (2013).
Of those terminations, 14 were due to the risk to the pregnant woman of physical illness, nine were based on an emergency situation arising from physical illness and three were because of the risk of the woman taking her own life.
The director of Amnesty Ireland, Colm O’Gorman, said the scrutiny imposed on pregnant women in order to establish suicidal ideation that warrants a termination is “mentally distressing” for the person involved.
Mr O’Gorman said: “Nothing in the report overcomes our concern that the act and the Department of Health guidance document offer medical professionals little legal or practical clarity on when a risk to a woman or girl’s health becomes a ‘real and substantial risk’ to her life.
“Nothing in it suggests that the multiple processes a woman or girl may have to undergo to be deemed entitled to an abortion are respectful of their human rights, including their right to health.
Mr O’Gorman also urged the Government to hold a referendum on repealing the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution, which acknowledges a “right to life” of the unborn.
United Left TD Clare Daly said: “The numbers involved are very small and the real issue is what is going to be done for the thousands of others who had abortions but were not covered by [the act].”
Pro-Life Campaign
Commenting on the figures, Cora Sherlock of the Pro-Life Campaign questioned the necessity of the termination procedures.
“The loss of even one baby’s life from abortion is an immense tragedy. It is a very sad fact that the Government’s legislation in 2013 is directly responsible for the loss of life in the cases where three babies had their lives ended under the ‘threat of suicide’ ground for abortion.
“It is difficult to determine from the information made available whether the deaths of the other 23 babies under the new act resulted from induced abortion that directly targeted their lives, or whether some or all of them resulted from necessary medical interventions in pregnancy to save the life of the mother where every reasonable effort was also made to save the life of the unborn child.”
A statement released by the Second Look Project earlier today claimed the State’s abortion legislation “confused the real difference between necessary ethical interventions and deliberate abortions that directly target the life of a baby”.