Despite a sustained campaign by left wing politicians and their supporters in the Irish media, the Irish government have declined to ban prolife vigils near abortuaries at this time.
Former prolifer Stephen Donnelly, now Minister for Health, was asked by Holly Cairns about the status of legislation on the ‘safe access to the Termination of Pregnancy Bill’ this past week in the Dail.
Cairns is infamous for once tweeting that she would get at an abortion for every minute of air time devoted to the papal conclave.
Abortion had only been legalised for over a year when the lockdown crisis began, putting a dent in a growing prolife movement in Ireland.
For this reason, Stephen Donnelly responded:
nsuring access to termination of pregnancy services remains an ongoing priority for the Department of Health.
It was originally intended to provide for safe access to termination of pregnancy services in the Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act 2018. However, a number of legal issues were identified which necessitated further consideration.
Since services under the Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act 2018 commenced in January 2019, there has been a limited number of reports of protests or other actions relating to termination of pregnancy. This is an extremely positive development. It suggests that these services have bedded in relatively smoothly to date and are becoming a normal part of the Irish healthcare system, as intended.
Where problems do arise with protests outside healthcare services, there is existing public order legislation in place to protect people accessing services, staff and local residents.
The Department of Health has liaised with An Garda Síochána on safe access to services. The Garda National Protective Services Bureau issued a notice to all Garda Stations raising awareness about the issue. It directed that any protests be monitored, and breaches of existing law dealt with. The Department has provided information on existing public order and other relevant legislation to the HSE for appropriate distribution.
Termination of pregnancy services have continued to function during the COVID-19 pandemic. There is regular ongoing engagement between my Department and the HSE to facilitate the smooth-running of the service and to resolve any issues that may arise.
There are prolife vigils still taking place quietly in a number of locations, many of which have had successes.
For the most part however, the location of abortuaries in Maternity Hospitals and Family GPs has been a clever means of ensuring that abortion protests are more difficult to carry out than at made for purpose abortion centers as in other countries.
The prolife movement in Ireland is still trying to find a clearer identity post 2018, we encourage people to get behind any prolife work or to initiate their own if none is readily available. The important thing is to start moving forward, with new ideas and a genuine belief that abortion can be removed from Irish society once again.
A recent story from the UK highlighted the importance of prolife witness near abortion clinics, despite the taunts of so called ‘secular’ prolifers who spend more time criticising the Catholic prolife movement than they do criticising abortion.
Catholic Prolife Vigil Leads to Abortion Clinic Closure — Catholic Arena
Seosamh O’Caoimh
