Colm Fitzpatrick
Dr John Monaghan A leading pro-life obstetrician has said that there is no justified medical incentive or reason to repeal the Eighth Amendment in Ireland, and that medical opinion is being overshadowed by personal views.
Speaking at the launch of Save the 8th’s referendum campaign last week, Dr John Monaghan, who is based at Portiuncula Hospital in Ballinasloe, said that “there is no medical evidence for getting rid of the Eighth Amendment”, adding that repealing the constitutional provision will not make women safer in pregnancy, but will “simply change only how politicians may legalise abortion”.
The event, which took place in the Gresham Hotel, heard from a number of speakers who questioned the medical basis for repeal and described abortion as “a licence to kill”.
Save the 8th was opposed to the holding of a referendum but now that it has been confirmed for May 25 it says it will be aiming to convince voters to reject the proposal.
Dr Monaghan said that he has delivered between 4,000 and 5,000 babies during his career and had never been prevented from protecting a woman’s life by the Eighth Amendment. He also pointed out that many doctors are pro-retain and that others in the medical field were giving “their personal views not professional”.
Other medical authorities also voiced their concerns about repealing the Eighth Amendment such as Dr Eimear Thorton of NUIG, who described the debate as “an issue of life and death”. Nurse Marie Donnelly also said that abortion was not healthcare and that she would rather give up her career than take part in abortion, noting that the Government plan for abortion “will add an intolerable strain to already broken service”.
Echoing these comments, Save the 8th spokesperson John McGuirk said that it was “an outright falsehood” that “the medical evidence in this debate is titled in favour of repeal”.