‘My decision on difficult abortion vote will allow me to sleep at night’ – Coveney
TÁNAISTE Simon Coveney has become the first Cabinet member to indicate he is not supportive of plans to bring in abortion on demand up to 12 weeks of a pregnancy.
The Foreign Affairs Minister is struggling to reach a clear view on changes to abortion laws, saying it is the most difficult issue for him as a politician.
The Cork TD, who is on the conservative wing of Fine Gael, is believed by many colleagues to be against repealing the Eighth Amendment.
When questioned by the Irish Independent, he described the topic as “very emotive and difficult”.
“Decisions that I’ll make on this will be ones that allow me to sleep at night and not ones that I will judge on the basis of whether they’re popular or not,” he said.
Mr Coveney’s comments come after Health Minister Simon Harris said he would back moves to allow abortion on demand up to 12 weeks into a pregnancy.
The Cabinet is due to consider the final report from the Oireachtas Committee on the Eighth Amendment on January 10, at which point Mr Harris will be tasked with formally laying the groundwork for a referendum in May or June. The report calls for unrestricted access to abortion for up to 12 weeks’ gestation through the regulated use of abortion tablets.
It also provides for access to termination without gestation limit in cases of fatal foetal abnormality on “compassionate” grounds.
Evolving
Mr Coveney said some people “have very clear views on this issue” but others’ “views are changing and evolving”.
“I think most of Ireland are somewhere in the middle there, in terms of recognising that the Constitution is probably too restrictive at the moment and there needs to be some change to protect women and their health, but also to protect an unborn child,” he said.
Mr Coveney doesn’t expect the Cabinet to reach a unanimous decision on the issue.
“Everybody’s perspective on this issue is influenced by their own life experience, their own family experience, and their own children.
“Lots of people have had to face tragedy and difficulty. Lots of people have had to face crisis pregnancy, lots of people have had to travel outside Ireland to get healthcare supports, and some of them didn’t get adequate health care supports, and lots of people have had to get counselling because of experiences that they’ve had to have abroad”, he said.
However, legislating for such a nuanced matter within the confines of the Constitution was “difficult”, said the Tánaiste, because it is a document “cast in stone and it doesn’t deal with detail well”.
But trying to deal with it “without the certainty of the Constitution is also difficult, and creates concern”, he said.
“The job of a government is to try to deal with difficult issues and make the right decisions for women and families and children and that’s what we’ll try and do.”