Coveney for repeal, but with ‘safety net’
Tánaiste wants to add clause ‘to reassure voters’
SIMON Coveney now backs proposed laws to allow abortion up to 12 weeks – but he wants a stipulation in the Bill that would make it harder for the Dáil to bring in a more liberal abortion regime.
The Tánaiste said yesterday he would like any future law which would replace the Eighth Amendment to include a rule which would mean it needs the support of twothirds of the Oireachtas for it to be changed.
His decision to back the Government in its repeal campaign, ‘if it will be coupled with strict medical guidelines’, comes a month after he admitted ‘doubts about unrestricted access to abortion up to 12 weeks’.
However, Mr Coveney will be calling for the heads of the Bill on the law that would be enacted if the Eighth is repealed to have a ‘two-third majority lock’.
The purpose of this ‘lock’ would be to make it, potentially, impossible for any one political grouping to change the law in the future. But legal sources last night said there could be constitutional issues with any such insistence on a two-thirds Dáil majority. Any such bill may be referred to the Supreme Court to test its constitutionality ahead of publication.
A spokesperson for Mr Coveney said a 66% majority requirement would be more than the combined strength of Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil in the current Dáil.
‘The Tánaiste hopes this will go some way towards countering the reckless claims that our parliament can’t be trusted, and to reassure voters that there will be no creeping change over time if they vote repeal,’ they added.
Cora Sherlock of the Pro-Life Campaign told the Irish Daily Mail she was very disappointed with Mr Coveney’s new stance.
‘If someone like Minister Coveney can change his mind in a matter of weeks, it brings the question of trust in politicians to the front and centre of the debate, because if we were to repeal the Eighth Amendment, politicians would be given a blank cheque to make whatever laws they wanted with regard to making abortion more widely available, and the public would never again have a chance to have their say on protecting the right to life at its fragile beginnings,’ she said.
Yesterday Mr Coveney indicated he will today tell Cabinet he could support a law that allows access to abortion for ‘up to 12 weeks’ gestation’ as he is satisfied ‘we will not be enabling testing for disabilities if the law is capped at a maximum of 12 weeks’ gestation’.
Meanwhile, it has emerged that under the abortion proposals a woman will have to wait for three days before she can be administered with an abortion pill, once a doctor has certified her pregnancy hasn’t exceeded 12 weeks.
Health Minister Simon Harris will today bring the general scheme of the legislation before Cabinet. Ahead of the draft legislation being presented, a senior Government source said that beyond the first trimester ‘terminations will only be available in exceptional circumstances’ such as ‘risk of serious harm to the health or life of the woman, in emergency situations or in cases of fatal foetal abnormality’.
‘Public wouldn’t get chance again’