THE Irish government and the Roman Catholic Church are set to
clash on the issue of legislation for abortion, if an expert group,
chaired by a High Court judge, recommends this course.
In 2010, the European Court of Human Rights upheld a complaint
by a woman who suffered from cancer that she had to travel abroad
for an abortion, and thus the state had violated her rights. The
government-appointed group, comprised of medical and legal experts,
is due to report soon, and the stage seems set for yet another
divisive campaign with pro- and anti-abortion groups, the latter
being orchestrated by the RC Church and a number of other
organisations.
On Sunday, the RC Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All
Ireland, Cardinal Seán Brady, called for another referendum,
indicating that the RC Church would wage an intense campaign in the
media, and would lobby public representatives. The leading party in
the coalition, the conservative Fine Gael, is known to include
several anti-abortion members in its ranks, and two have already
indicated reservations about government legislation, preferring
another referendum. The junior partner, Labour, however, reacted
strongly to the Primate's remarks, suggesting that they harked back
to the days when the RC Church in Ireland told politicians what to
do.
The Minister for Communications, Pat Rabbitte, said: "I don't
have any objection to any of the Churches' stating its position and
making it clear, but I think it would be a retrogressive step if we
were to go back to the days of the Catholic Church dictating to
elected public representatives how they should address an
issue."
The introduction of legislation on abortion, although it has
been called for by senior figures in the judiciary over the years,
has been avoided by successive governments precisely because of the
divisive nature of the subject.
The decision to engage an expert group suggests the desire of
politicians to avoid direct responsibility, and rely instead on the
neutrality of the group, whose findings could then be a framework
for such legislation. But the calls for a referen- dum from the
strong anti-abortion lobby in Ireland are not likely to go
away.