MICKEY: IT’S NOT RIGHT TO KILL A BABY
TYRONE manager Mickey Harte was centre stage yesterday for the launch of a campaign by a group of GAA stars calling for a ‘No’ vote in the abortion referendum.
Speaking at a childrens’ training session at the Ballyfermot Sports and Fitness Centre, Dublin, Mr Harte claimed the forthcoming May 25 referendum, on whether to remove the constitutional ban on abortion, is a vote between life and death.
And he also described foetal abnormalities, in which babies can’t survive outside the womb, as a ‘fact of life’.
He told the Irish Mail on Sunday: ‘A better solution is to keep the Eighth Amendment. Lots of young babies will be killed and that’s the difference. This is a vote for life or death, that’s what we have to consider here.
‘Fatal abnormalities is a term being thrown about willy-nilly. Life-limiting abnormalities, that’s a fact of life.’
And when asked about whether rape victims, who become pregnant after a sexual assault, should be able to have an abortion, Mr Harte replied: ‘It’s not right to kill a baby. There’s no point in adding to that trauma [rape] by killing an innocent baby.’ The ‘No’ campaign yesterday was organised by Antrim footballer Patrick Gallagher. He was supported by Meath footballer Joe Sheridan, Derry camogie
‘This is a vote for life or death’
captain and All-Ireland winner Aoife Cassidy, Cork camogie player Róisín de Faoite, Dublin hurler Seán Moran and Galway footballer Anne-Marie McDonagh. In a joint statement issued yesterday, the Gaelic Athletes for Life group, said: ‘We are an inclusive organisation. There is space for everyone at our table. The proposal the Government has put forward is not inclusive.
‘It specifically seeks to exclude one group of people, the unborn from our society.
‘It strips them of rights, it declares that they are not on our team. The proposal is not compassionate.
‘It would allow abortions up to six months of gestation. It would allow healthy babies of healthy mothers to be killed for any reason.’