FF says no to abortion as Kelleher attacks Rabbitte

FIANNA FÁIL will oppose any attempt to legislate for abortion on demand.

Leader Micheál Martin said the party did not favour a ‘right to choose’ in relation to termination of pregnancy.

And yesterday the party’s health spokesman Billy Kelleher fired the first shots in what could turn into a dirty political war when an expert group reports on the options for addressing the issue in the coming months.

Ireland has been told to ‘clarify’ its law on abortion after the European Court of Human Rights ruled in 2010 that the rights of a woman identified only as ‘C’ had been infringed in being forced to obtain an abor- tion abroad for a foetus that would be born dead.

Mr Kelleher attacked Communications Minister Pat Rabbitte’s comments that the Catholic Church should not involve itself in political debate relating to abortion legislation.

‘The issue of abortion is one of the most emotive issues in Irish political life,’ he said. ‘The question of whether or not the State should legislate for abortion in limited circumstances is due to return to political debate in the coming months.

‘There are myriad views on what the State’s response should be, but one thing all sensible observers agree on is the need for restrained and respectful engagement with the issues.

‘Unfortunately, Pat Rabbitte’s contribution on yesterday’s RTE This Week programme, when he said that the leader of the Catholic Church in Ireland should not be involved in any political debate on the issue, was neither restrained nor respectful.’

Mr Rabbitte said it would be a backward step to return to the days of senior churchmen ‘dictating’ to public representatives.

But Mr Kelleher said: ‘While his comments may have went down well with Labour Party activists, they will have served only to antagonise many thousands of others who will correctly feel that their position, as articulated by Cardinal Brady, deserves the same respect as any other voice.’

Meanwhile a Catholic think-tank said Mr Rabbitte’s remarks were a calculated bid to rob the Church of the right to lobby.

Dr John Murray of the Iona Institute said: ‘It is Minister Rabbitte’s comment that is actually retrograde. First of all, lobbying is not the same as dictating. Secondly, why should business or farming organisations, or trades unions be allowed to lobby politicians but not the churches?’