REPEAL THE 8TH: WE ASK LOCAL POLITICIANS WHERE THEY STAND

With the referendum on the repeal of the 8th Amendment due to take place on May 25, we asked all Wexford’s councillors and Dáil deputies whether they were for or against it. But, with the exact wording of the referendum and the laws that will be brought i

‘I agree that there is a need for change but I would not be comfortable with the idea of abortion on demand up to 12 weeks. Morally, I would have a problem with that. It’s a difficult one, to be honest. What are we going to replace it with? I don’t think as it stands, we have enough information to make an informed judgement.’ ‘I fully support the repeal of the 8th - it’s long overdue. We need to deal with this ourselves as opposed to exporting it instead of seeing a situation where young people are using abortion pills unregulated and in an unsafe manner.’ ‘I support repealing the 8th but I’d like to see what legislation is going to follow from that because it will have implications for other parts of the Constitution. I think that is what the debate will be about. It’s a very complex area but there’s no point in codding ourselves thinking the current legislation suits our modern society.’ ‘As a mother of two, I am pro-life but in view of the experience visited on many Irish women and teenagers over the past number of years, it is quite clear that the 8th amendment is throwing up traumatic cases and anomalies which have no place in a modern democracy. Therefore, the 8th Amendment needs to be repealed.’ ‘I don’t and won’t support abortion on demand. I don’t know yet whether I will support the repeal of the 8th amendment yet, because we won’t have all the details for another few weeks.’ ‘Sinn Fein will be campaigning to repeal the amendment. We believe the current situation in our 81-year-old constitution requires reform. At present a woman can only have an abortion if she is otherwise going to die. This is contrary to protecting and respecting the life and health of women.’ ‘The issue is very complex and, at the moment, nobody knows what they’re voting on. Until we see the wording, we don’t know what is replacing the Eighth and that is not acceptable to me. I think we are adding to the contention by debating on what is a hypothesis – informed debate can’t take place until we see the wording.’ ‘I do know something has to be done, but I won’t be canvassing one way or another. But we can’t have women travelling abroad for abortions and in all likelihood I will vote ‘Yes’. We can’t have the courts getting involved either and if we legislate properly that won’t happen.’ ‘I’m 100% in favour of repealing the Eighth. I was at a Pro Choice event recently and I plan to canvass with them in the coming months. I think it’s long overdue. It is one of those issues that divides people but from my point of view I see it as a key principle of human rights and women’s rights.’ ‘I am supporting repealing the 8th for the legal aspect of things. It’s a choice issue and I think we should open up the debate. I would love to see Ireland have a very mature approach and set a model for abortion, a leading model for the world. We need to deal with it.’