IRISH WOMEN are accessing abortion pills over the internet without the benefit of medical support or guidance because of Ireland’s failure to face up to the reality of unplanned pregnancies, Dr Mary Favier of Doctors for Choice told a meeting of the UCC Philosophical Society in Cork last night.
Cork-based GP Dr Favier, who was opposed the motion “That this house would not legalise abortion” said: “There are very strict guidelines that you should not take abortion pills after nine weeks. The concern we would have is that Irish women can be desperate.
“They can break the rules and take it later than that.”
However, in supporting the motion, Prof William Binchy of Trinity College Dublin, Ireland achieves safer outcomes for mothers than in countries with greater resources and a liberal abortion regime.
Prof Binchy, who is a Regius professor of Laws, said the Supreme Court decision in 1992, which found terminating a pregnancy is lawful where the life of a mother is at risk, had not been based on any expert medical evidence.
“The Supreme Court decision mentioned no time limits.
“To give effect to that decision would involve abortion of children at all stages of pregnancy”, he said.
Independent Senator Rónán Mullen, also speaking in support of the motion said that any satisfactory settlement of the abortion issue required a referendum.
Senator Mullen stated that there was a tendency in some sections of the media to bemoan the fact that Ireland has had full-scale national debates on abortion on numerous occasions.
“It remains a fact that any satisfactory settlement of this issue will require a referendum. There is a simple reason for this: democratic legitimacy.”
He added that among the new features of this discussion would be the emerging voices of Irish women who have had abortions and “regretted their decision”, the voices of younger people whose parents contemplated abortion but changed their minds.