Only a thin line separates key life and death issues

Country Living with Francis Farragher

I’ll admit to being in a bit of a quandary about our forthcoming referendum on the abortion issue and I suspect too that there are a lot more people like me, tossing around many conflicting issues in their heads.  The debate so far has at least been reasonably moderate with the different issues being given a thorough enough hearing, firstly with the Citizens’ Assembly and then with the all-party Dáil Committee.

I was though, just a little taken aback, that instead of prioritising the life of the mother over the life of her baby in critical health situations, we have now moved to a situation where abortion could be available on demand up to a 12 weeks gestation period.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar last week also expressed concerns as to whether the availability of abortion ‘across the board’ would be a step too far for the Irish people.

Almost certainly, we are facing into a referendum this Summer on the Eighth Amendment, or Article 40.3.3 of the Constitution, which in itself will be a straightforward enough choice, in that it will be a straight yes or no for a repeal.

The wording of that amendment is just one sentence, but yet it is generally accepted that it did pose serious legal, potentially criminal and ethical dilemmas for members of the medical profession when they faced critical health decisions as regards pregnant women.

It is worthwhile to read carefully the Eighth Amendment that states: “The State acknowledges the right to life of the unborn and, with due regard to the equal right to life of the mother, guarantees in its laws to respect, and, as far as practicable, by its laws to defend and vindicate that right.”

That amendment was put to the people back in September of 1983 (could that really be nearly 35 years ago?) when Garret Fitzgerald led a Coalition Government of Fine Gael and Labour, but the proposal had been in the pipeline from the previous Fianna Fáil administration led by Charlie Haughey.

Such was the divisiveness and venom of the debate at that time, the memories of the whole episode will still be very much fresh in the minds of people in the 50+ age bracket.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.