Motion to block State funding of abortion services defeated

A MOTION tabled by an anti-abortion TD to prevent taxpayer funding of abortion services was voted down at the Oireachtas Health committee yesterday.

Independent TD Carol Nolan, formerly Sinn Féin TD for Offaly, put forward the proposal and said she had been contacted by both Yes and No voters arguing that public money should not be used to fund terminations.

TD Peadar Tóibín, who is suspended from Sinn Féin for six months for voting against the Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy Bill (which contains the proposal for State funding), in its second stage, said he regretted the ‘note of rancour’ on the issue.

Ms Nolan said that at a time when there were 718,000 people on waiting lists and children waiting 18 months for scoliosis assessment, ‘I think the injection of €12million into elective abortion services is just unacceptable.’

The motion had argued that only abortions where the mother’s life is at risk should be performed free. Solidarity TD Ruth Coppinger claimed this meant that Savita Halappanavar would not have benefited had she been in a position to have a termination.

Ms Coppinger spoke about a relative who was recently told that the twins she was carrying had a fatal foetal abnormality.

Addressing Ms Nolan, she said: ‘You really need to examine your whole humanity.’

Fianna Fáil’s Margaret Murphy O’Mahony said she had met a woman recently who had serious gynaecological problems and had been on a waiting list for two years. The TD said she had campaigned for a Yes vote on the repeal of the Eighth Amendment, but said she still did not think the taxpayer should be funding abortions.