Protection of Life during Pregnancy Bill 2013 – an analysis by the
Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC)
3 Whitacre
Mews, Stannery Street, London, SE11 4AB www.spuc.org
Executive Summary
The Protection of Life during Pregnancy Bill (2013) if
passed will mark a radical change in Ireland's abortion law. In many aspects
the Bill is more permissive than the British Abortion Act (1967).
· It
repeals the comprehensive protection of unborn children under the Offences
Against the Person Act (1861). It strips the right to life from children
before, and even during, birth in a broad range of circumstances. Threats to
life need not be inevitable or immediate.
· It
permits abortion on the grounds of suicidal ideation – once again, even when a
threat of suicide is neither inevitable nor immediate.
· Its
numerous inconsistencies and ill-defined terms (eg "good faith",
"reasonable opinion" and "due regard") render the Bill's
limited protection of children virtually unenforceable.
The Bill fails to consider developments in science and legal
precedent.
· Its
arbitrary and unscientific definition of "unborn" excludes all
unimplanted embryos conceived naturally or by artificial means leaving such
embryos vulnerable to exploitation.
· It
ignores recent Irish case law that recognises life beginning at fertilisation.
The Bill violates rights guaranteed by the Irish
Constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights, including the equal
right to life and freedom of conscience.
· It will
compel medical personnel to participate in abortion in some ways, while
offering no protection to other professionals.
· It will
compel maternity hospitals, including Catholic hospitals, to provide abortions.
· It legalises
abortion without the consent of a pregnant woman in undefined “emergency”
situations.
This Bill is so dangerously and deeply flawed that
successful amendment of it is impossible. It should therefore be withdrawn in
its entirety. If passed, this Bill will hugely increase the number of abortions
carried out in Ireland. It is, without doubt, a Bill proposing a clearly unjust
law and it must be resisted at every level.
