By Dave Andrusko

What was unofficial last Wednesday became official today. Members of Ireland’s Parliamentary [Oireachtas] Committee on the Eighth Amendment published its 40 page report that included the recommendation that the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution be repealed. The Eighth Amendment [otherwise known as Article 40.3.3] gives equal legal protection to mothers and unborn children and has been the target of pro-abortion forces, inside and outside of the Republic of Ireland, for years.

“The current regime for the termination of pregnancy in Ireland is unfit for purpose and that constitutional reform is necessary,” the report says. Beyond acknowledging the recommendation that abortions be legal for any reason through the 12th week, news accounts continue to be sketchy about what else the influential committee wants.

Here’s one pivotal recommendation

The Committee is of the opinion that the decision as to when a termination can take place is dependent on a range of factors; and that, in cases involving risk to health, medical practitioners, acting in good faith, and in consultation with the woman, are best placed to make such a decision, subject to any statutory requirements which should underpin guidelines drawn up by the Minister for Health in consultation with the Medical Council and the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland.

So…subject to “any statutory requirements which should underpin guidelines drawn up by the Minister for Health in consultation with the Medical Council and the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland”—which could easily be ultra-permissive—there would seem to be few checks and balances on abortions performed up to and including abortions late in pregnancy.

The very next section fleshes this out:

2.18. The Committee recommends that (a) termination of pregnancy should be lawful where the life or health of the woman is at risk and that a distinction should not be drawn between the physical and mental health of the woman, (b) provision for gestational limits for termination of pregnancy should be guided by the best available medical evidence and be provided for in legislation, and (c) any assessments in relation to the termination of pregnancy where the life or the health of the woman is at risk should be made by no fewer than two specialist physicians and the law should be amended to provide accordingly.

“Life or health.” Where have we heard that before?

The cover is “The Committee is not of the opinion that termination of pregnancy after 12 weeks for socio-economic reasons should not be provided for…” Possibly abortion on demand for “life and health” but not (past 12 weeks) for “socio-economic reasons.”

There are many ironies, all of them tragic. The Times of London ran a piece yesterday under the condescending headline, “Abortion scaremongering to be conquered with facts,” written by Ellen Coyne. In English (or Gaelic), this means to discourage (ridicule) any questions that point out how liberal/permissive the language may be in next year’s abortion referendum.

A much more accurate assessment of what might be coming down the lane came from Alban Maginness, writing in the Belfast Telegraph. The headline reads, “Dail committee proposals for the ‘reform’ of law on abortion would cause Herod to blanch.”