A KILLARNEY politician has accused the national television, radio and print media of promoting the views of people in favour of repealing the Eighth Amendment, which acknowledges the right to life of the unborn.
Cllr John Joe Culloty said he has also noticed “a huge push” in favour of repeal by some ministers and TDs, of all parties and none.
He was speaking at a meeting of Kerry County Council where his motion calling on the government not to take any action which could lead to a law change was passed by a majority of 10 to 1. Five councillors abstained from the vote and, bizarrely, 17 were absent.
Cllr Culloty said the two main reasons put forward to justify the push to liberalise abortion is to give the women carrying babies with life-limiting conditions the choice to abort the babies in Ireland and to accommodate women who have become pregnant as a result of rape.
“Babies described as having life-limiting conditions are actually babies with a severe disability and deserve extra protection and love. It would be better… if the government, rather than pandering to the liberals within their ranks, made a genuine effort to provide perinatal hospice care,” Cllr Culloty said.
“On the question of pregnancy after rape, according to the Rape Crisis Network, 13 per cent of pregnancy rape victims choose to have an abortion and 57 per cent went on to parent their child. Some women say they feel that an abortion would be another violation,” the Fianna Fail councillor said.
Cllr Culloty pointed out that the number of Irish women travelling to the UK for abortions has fallen by almost 45 per cent, from 6,700 in 2001 to 3,735 in 2014.
“Each of these little ones in the womb are either unborn little girls or little boys. They have little hearts and little heads but they have no voices. We have to be their voices,” he said.
