” “Abortion: the disappointment of Catholics” “

Disappointment but at the same time a new determination to defend life at any cost from the moment of conception. That is the reaction of the Irish Catholic bishops to the result of the referendum on abortion held in Ireland last week. The result was a narrow victory for the “no” vote. The bishops together with Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern were in favour of voting “yes”, i.e. a vote that would have eliminated the threat of suicide by the mother as a valid cause for obtaining an abortion and led to the introduction, in the form of an amendment, of legislation that would have protected the life of the unborn child from the moment the foetus is implanted in the mother’s womb. The Irish Constitution has hitherto accepted the legality of cases of abortion in which the life of the mother was in serious peril. That was ever since the Irish Supreme Court had ruled in 1992 that a threat to the mother’s life, comprising any suicidal tendencies she might have, was sufficient grounds to permit an abortion. The parents of a fourteen-year-old girl who was expecting a baby as a result of rape, and feared she wanted to kill herself, had then lodged an appeal to the court, asking it to rule in favour of her right to abort. The Church in favour of “yes”. On last week’s vote in the referendum every party was divided, some MPs in favour, others against, while even a part of the pro-life movement itself had asked its own supporters to vote “no” because it argued that the referendum did not go far enough: it defended the life of the child not from the moment of conception, but only from the moment in which the embryo is implanted in the mother’s womb. The fear of the pro-life movement was that a “yes” vote in this referendum would have opened the floodgates to the “day-after pill”. According to many observers, the complexity of the debate undoubtedly confused many electors. Only some 40% of them bothered to vote: 618,485 electors voted in favour and 629,041 against. “The Catholic bishops did their utmost to ensure that the referendum would be won by the ‘yes’ vote; they distributed millions of flyers and emphasized that this was an occasion that should on no account be lost”, explained Brenda Drumm, spokesperson of the Irish Catholic Church, in an interview with Sir Europe. “Each bishop wrote a pastoral letter to explain why it was inviting electors to vote “yes”. Without doubt the bishops were disappointed by the result – continued Brenda Drumm – but at the same time acknowledge that the will of the people must be respected”. Low voter turnout. “The Irish bishops – explained Brenda Drumm – still hope that the position expressed by the electors may change and that unborn children may be defended, by the drafting of appropriate anti-abortion legislation”. It should also be borne in mind that “there was a low voter turnout in the referendum: various opinion campaigns had clashed with each other and even the pro-life movement itself was divided. It was very difficult for people to form clear ideas on the matter”, explained Brenda Drumm. For the time being in Ireland “abortion remains legal only in the case of a threat of suicide on the part of the mother, but the law permits mothers to go to Great Britain to obtain an abortion”, observed the spokesperson. Twenty five years ago the Catholic bishops set up an agency called “Care”, a consultancy service for mothers in difficulty, which has so far helped 12,000 mothers. The service will continue to operate. “It’s important to note – Drumm pointed out in conclusion – that this statistic, registering the thousands of women whose abortion was prevented, was never recalled during the electoral campaign for the referendum, whereas the 6,000-7,00 women who annually go to Great Britain to have an abortion were constantly being cited”.