The Rev Father Kevin Hegarty, in a Rite and Reason article (March 13th), described a constitutional prohibition on induced abortion as "futile". He also, intentionally or not, framed his comments so as to make the 70 per cent or so of Irish people who wish to protect the unborn in this way appear irrational extremists whom the Government should ignore. Caricaturing those who disagree with one's own opinions is no substitute for factual argument.
Father Hegarty's brainwave is to hold a referendum to delete the 1983 Amendment, restoring conditions to what they were before 1983 and placing total reliance on the 1861 Act to keep abortion out of Ireland. This is not an original idea at all. Indeed it is a very dog-eared, shop-soiled one. It has already been considered (and rejected) by three Government committees:
(1). Report of the Constitution Review Group May 1996 said deletion of the article would not be feasible. It would also be unsafe and there was no guarantee such a course would win support in a referendum.
(2). The Green Paper Report pointed out the very negative effects of Father Hegarty's proposal.
(3). The Fifth Progress Report on Abortion last year did not recommend his approach, although it was one of the Green Paper options which it reviewed.
In fact, of all the submissions to the above committees (the vast majority sought a constitutional amendment to protect the unborn), the only requests to delete the 1983 amendment, as far as I am aware, came from groups or individuals who wanted induced abortion legalised in Ireland. Without constitutional backing, the 1861 Act would not afford adequate protection and would be an easy target for legislative onslaughts and constitutional challenges, not only from within Ireland but, increasingly, from EU and other international courts.
Incidentally, the Pro-Life Amendment Campaign, which Father Hegarty alleged was established in 1979 (no doubt an attempt to link it with the papal visit and what he styled the "golden twilight" of the church!), was actually established in early 1981. Its launch was attended by its founding patrons - the State's five professors of obstetrics and gynaecology and the Masters of most maternity hospitals.
Since then, the anxiety to keep induced abortion out of Ireland has been largely led by the Medical Council, the Institute of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, and by pro-life campaigners, all supported by more than 70 per cent of the people, according to opinion polls. The majority of people want protection for the unborn strengthened, not further weakened.
Did Father Hegarty consider how his proposal could be implemented in the real world? An Irish Times/MRBI opinion poll (December 11th, 1997) showed only 16 per cent support for removing Article 40.3.3. Such a proposal would never pass the people, and if it did, it would indicate such indifference to the fate of the unborn child that the 1861 Act would not survive unscathed for long from pressures within and without the State.
The Pro-Life Campaign is thankful that we are at last on course for letting the people decide democratically on protection for the unborn child that the Supreme Court breached in a bizarre 1992 decision.
THAT judgment, given without a scintilla of medical evidence, has since been criticised by many in medicine, including, by inference, the Medical Council and by many in the legal profession, including the late Mr Justice Brian Walsh, former Supreme Court judge and one of the most eminent jurists Ireland has produced. He also backed an amendment to overturn the X case.
I am taking it as read that Father Hegarty does not wish to see induced abortion performed in Ireland and wishes to see those taking place outside the jurisdiction reduced in number. The Catholic Hierarchy made a splendid oral submission to the Oireachtas Committee also seeking these things and a referendum to enhance constitutional protection.
The Oireachtas All-Party Committee produced three distinct views on the way forward. According to the report, the Labour Party's approach is to legislate without a constitutional amendment. That means abortion in quite wide circumstances. Fine Gael, according to the report, adopted a do-nothing approach. The Fianna Fail approach is the only one offering an acceptable way forward, providing that the eventual amendment wording and legislation prohibit direct targeting of the unborn child. All parties agreed on the necessity to reduce crisis pregnancies.
The Pro-Life Campaign would welcome measures to deal with crisis pregnancies that are proven to work in the long term and do not lead to escalations of the very problems being addressed. The approach would have to be multifaceted. Recent surveys show very high levels of drink and drug abuse among the young which are very relevant factors.
Anything done to reduce crisis pregnancies must improve and not worsen matters, as the Rainbow Coalition's legislation on abortion information did in 1995. The then Government forecast that its effect would be to decrease abortion by up to 25 per cent; in fact, abortions have increased by 44 per cent since 1995.
Senator Des Hanafin is a Fianna Fail Senator and president of the Pro-Life Campaign.