Republican News · Thursday 28 February 2002

Vote No

With less than a week to polling, the electorate is as confused as ever about the government's referendum. The fault lies with those who drafted this unwieldy proposal and the politicians who rushed it all through without proper time for debate. We now face a proposal seeking to insert legislation in the Constitution that even its supporters cannot properly explain.

Confusion over the status of the IUD and morning after pill, pro-life campaigners on both sides of the argument and claims and counter claims from politicians about the calamitous results of Yes or No votes have thoroughly confused voters.

Whatever the outcome, some 6,000 women every year will still leave Ireland to have their pregnancies terminated. The fact is that this referendum proposal is a backward step taken by the government for reasons of political expediency rather than any real commitment to Irish women or the unborn.

Its core objective is to reverse the X Case judgment by eliminating suicide as a ground for legal, life-saving abortion in Ireland. This is despite the fact that the protection afforded to girls and women by the X Case judgment has only come into play once. That was in the C Case in 1997. The High Court granted the girl at the centre of that case the right to travel based on the X Case judgment.

If this referendum is passed, the safety net provided by the X Case judgment will be pulled away. Should a future C Case arise, the life of the girl at the centre of such a case would be put at serious risk. The X Case judgment has not opened the floodgates in the past ten years. It may, however, have prevented two young girls, both victims of rape, from committing suicide.

Sinn Féin is calling for a No vote because republicans are not prepared to take away what little protection there is for girls and women in a crisis pregnancy situation who are suicidal.

Writing in the Irish Times on Wednesday, Vincent Brown discussed the situation of a women pregnant following a rape. "Why should unconsensual motherhood attract any moral obligation, let alone an obligation backed up by the criminal law?" he asked.

This referendum is flawed.

The proposals don't adequately address or resolve the complex issues involved.

They don't have due regard to the equal right to life of the mother.

They seek to overturn the Supreme Court judgement in the X Case and eliminate suicide as a ground for access to abortion.

They will criminalise women who, for whatever desperate reasons, choose the option of abortion.

They are possibly unconstitutional.

Finally, the Constitution is not the appropriate place to deal with this complex issue. This referendum should be rejected and legislation introduced to implement the Supreme Court decision in the X case.

Vote No on Wednesday 6 March.