Health Minister’s role in debate on amendment
SIR, I am writing this to express my grave concerns and shock at the meeting between Minister for Health Simon Harris and the Women’s Council of Ireland and the Coalition to Repeal the Eighth Amendment.
As Minister for Health I consider this an act of bias on the issue, even though he has aleady publicly announced that he favours removing the equal right to life of unborn babies, bestowed in our Constitution.
This is the minister overseeing the referendum, and so should be setting a high standard of fairness. These actions do not instill confidence that this is in any way a fair debate.
Pro Life Campaign spokesperson, Dr Ruth Cullen voiced her concerns that Minister Harris crossed a line by giving a private briefing to groups campaigning for abortion.
Dr Cullen also highlighted that Minister Harris has failed to meet or engage with people from the pro-life side, including families who say they owe the life of their child to the Eighth Amendment.
Once the Eighth Amendment is repealed there is absolutely no protection for unborn babies; all equality to the right to life is removed. This means that the Oireachtas can then legislate in the future to a nine month limit if they so wish.
Do the Irish people want to relinquish control to politicians? This has been done in the past and we’ve had plenty of tribunals to show that it leads to disaster.
Sincerely,
Frances Kelleher, Killarney.