The British Humanist Association (BHA) and the British Pregnancy Advice Service (BPAS) are pushing for the legalisation of abortion in Ireland.
The BHA and BPAS have issued a joint statement at the United NationsHuman Rights Council (UNHRC), demanding that a referendum be held on the Irish Constitution. The statement suggests that holding a referendum will allow the constitution to be amended.
Article 40.3.3 of the Irish Constitution says, "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."
There have been repeated attempts to legalise abortion in Ireland, but all have been rejected. Earlier this year a Private Members Bill to legalise abortion in cases of fatal foetal anomaly was rejected, by 95 votes to 45. The most recent Bill to repeal Article 40.3.3 was rejected in May 2015.
'Abortion is available only to wealthy women'
Anumber of pregnant women from Ireland have travelledabroad to obtain abortions.
The joint statement claims that, due to the costs of leaving the country for abortion services, the current legislation is discriminatory, because "safe, legal abortion is available only to wealthy women and girls". The statement also claims that "women suffer emotional and physical trauma due to having to carry a foetus for a prolonged period of time", referring to the time it takes the woman to travel from Ireland to England, Wales or Scotland.
'It kills a being that has no sense of life or death'
Earlier this year, the United Nations Human Rights Committee criticised the abortion law in Ireland, claiming that it subjected a woman to "cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment and encroached on her dignity and physical and mental integrity".
A campaign called ‘We Trust Women’, was launched by the BPAS earlier this year. The campaign calls for the 24-week limit on abortions in the UK to be scrapped, therefore permitting abortions right up to birth.
Ann Furedi, Chief Executive of BPAS, released a book earlier this year, ‘The Moral Case for Abortion’. In her book, she refers to abortion as a method of birth control, claiming that "clinical risks of early abortion are not significantly higher than those of contraception".
"Abortion may be an act of killing - but it kills a being that has no sense of life or death, and no awareness of itself as distinct from others."
In 2014, Ann Furedi announced her support for gender abortion in an interview with Spiked, an online magazine.
"There is no legal requirement to deny a woman an abortion if she has a sex preference, providing that the legal grounds are still met," she said.
'The most vulnerable members of our society'
Aisling Hubert, pro-life campaigner, is a client of the Christian Legal Centre. In 2012 two doctors in the UK were caught offering illegal ‘gender-abortions’. Despite video evidence of the illegal acts, the Crown Prosecution Service claimed it would ‘not be in the public interest’ to prosecute. In an interview with Revelation TV, Aisling explained;
"Someone has to do something about this, someone has to pursue justice for the most vulnerable members of our society, and so I decided to do so."
Aisling is now facing huge legal costs of £47,000 for pursuing justice.
Related Links:
BHA and BPAS advocate for rights of Irish women and girls at the UN Human Rights Council (BHA)
Doctors could be prosecuted for gender-based abortion following British lawyers appeal to European Court of Human Rights (Telegraph)
23-year-old who pursued 'gender-abortion' justice faces crippling £47,000 legal bill