Eighth must go, argues FF hopeful McAleese

THE son of former President Mary McAleese has said he is in favour of repealing the Eighth Amendment.

Justin McAleese previously played a prominent role in the same-sex marriage referendum in 2015, when he spoke of his experience of growing up as a young gay man.

Fianna Fáil has now put him forward as constituency representative for Dublin Rathdown and he is working towards gaining a seat at the next election.

Speaking about the upcoming referendum on the Eighth Amendment, he told the Irish Independent his position was “very simple”.

“I support a repeal of the Eighth Amendment and I support the introduction of the 12 weeks,” he said, referring to the Government’s intention to allow for unrestricted abortion in the first trimester of a pregnancy.

“I have read all the correspondence from the Joint Oireachtas Committee, and from the Citizens’ Assembly. And I can understand how people have jumped from position A to position B when you read all the documentation,” he said.

Last month, Ms McAleese said she had no plans to take part in the campaign for repeal of the Eighth Amendment. Speaking to RTÉ Radio she said she had a lot of reading and analysis to do, and that this referendum was “infinitely more complex” than the 2015 marriage referendum.

Earlier this year, Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin announced his change of stance on the subject of abortion, with many within his party criticising his U-turn.

Mr McAleese, however, believes that the Eighth “has to go”. “If the experts and obstetricians in maternity hospitals are telling us, especially those in the big maternity hospitals where they see all the complexity of cases, that the Eighth Amendment is not working, I don’t see how we cannot listen to that.”

‘They have to wait for a woman’s life to be at death’s door before they can intervene’

The Eighth Amendment was inserted into the Constitution in 1983 with the intention of protecting the lives of both women and their unborn. Mr McAleese argued it is failing in its intention, as it does not protect women.

“We have heard from Dr Rhona Mahony, in the course of the Joint Oireachtas Committee, that it’s not doing that.

“That they are delaying medical care, they have to wait for a woman’s life to be at death’s door before they can intervene... for that reason alone in my view the Eighth Amendment has to go.”

Mr McAleese said he understands why some people may feel torn over the issue as it can be emotive.

“I understand why people have difficulty with the 12 weeks.. .We have a lot of work to do between now and the next 50 days to answer all the questions, perfectly reasonable questions.

“And to give people comfort so when they go to vote on the 25th of May they have all the information available to them.”

He said social media can become an echo chamber and advised people to talk to people rather than engage in Twitter fights.