Catholic agencies told to give abortion info
CATHOLIC crisis pregnancy agencies will be forced to provide information on abortion when it is legalised in the new year, Simon Harris has said.
The Health Minister made his comments yesterday after the Cabinet approved the Bill legalising abortion in Ireland.
He said he expects taxpayer funded crisis pregnancy agencies to provide its users with information on abortion, regardless of their ownership or ethos.
‘I believe that crisis pregnancy agencies, regardless of who owns them or who runs them, if they’re funded by the taxpayer, should make all of the information available to women,’ he said.
‘I don’t think that’s a very radical concept to have. Trust women, trust women to make their own decisions. We should inform women of their options and let women make their decisions. Certainly any money coming from my department or from the HSE should be for that purpose. It should be for letting women know all of the legal options that they can consider when they find themselves in a crisis.’ He said legislation would be in place to introduce abortion by January next year.
And he appealed to opponents of the law not to block its progress through the Dáil, noting: ‘Since the scenes of relief in Dublin Castle back in May, 1,500 women have had scenes of crisis and devastation visit their home and visit their personal life. So we have to be ambitious in this regard.’
Mr Harris said it was the duty of the Oireachtas to scrutinise the legislation, but said the proposals had been published in detail prior to the referendum. He added: ‘I think it is important that the Oireachtas balances its own duty to scrutinise legislation with facing up to the reality that Irish women are still experiencing in this country today.
‘It’s 125 days since we held the referendum to repeal the Eighth Amendment. During that time more than 1,100 women have had to travel abroad to access termination.
‘Today in our airports, about nine Irish women will still be travelling abroad. During that time about 375 Irish women have also had to access the abortion pill online, illegally and without medical supervision.’
He added: ‘So, despite the fact that the referendum has passed, about 1,500 women have found themselves in crisis, between the referendum and today.
‘And they still can’t access this service safely and legally in their own country.’
The minister has met Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe to discuss a provision for abortion in the forthcoming budget, but declined to say how much he argued that would be needed or how much would be provided.
‘Obviously, there’s a cost with all of this. Those costs will be determined both through the estimates process and through the discussions that I’ll have in terms of the contractual obligations,’ he said.
‘This needs to be resourced, it needs to be resourced adequately so that we can have safe, womencentered provision of this service in our country.’
‘Trust women to make decisions’