Pro-life politicians have decried the launch of a bill that would introduce so-called ‘safe access zones’ outside hospitals and clinics providing abortion, arguing that it’s the attempted “criminalisation of peaceful pro-life speech and protest”.
Speaking to The Irish Catholic newspaper, Laois-Offaly TD Carol Nolan said the bill is “nothing short of an ideological wrecking ball”.
Drafted by the ‘Together for Safety’ group, the bill has been submitted to the Seanad. It seeks to create a 100-metre zone around locations where people attempt to access abortion services.
Ms Nolan said that there is “simply no evidence that such stringent and constitutionally dubious measures are required”.
“Indeed, if reports referencing the bill’s desire to prohibit prayer are correct, then we have we have truly entered a new phase of coercive control that should be a source of embarrassment rather than pride for those who would seek to advance it through the legislative process,” she told this paper.
Senator Rónán Mullen said this private members’ legislation reflected a “hardcore pro-abortion agenda” but added that it is unlikely to succeed.
“It’s a vicious form of virtue signalling, you could say…the only reason it won’t succeed is because constitutionally there would be a problem with interfering with freedom of assembly,” Senator Mullen said.
What the bill does point out though, he said, “is the need for pro-life people to be similarly active in promoting legislation that would at least try to remove some of the cruelties from the abortion legislation”.
He suggested such measures as precautionary pain-relief for the unborn and the introduction of the requirement of offering ultrasounds as ways to “show a modicum of humanity in the context of the abortion legislation before we ever get to trying to restrict it and restore the right to life of the unborn”.
“My point is that while what these people are doing is deeply cynical because they already have everything they want, the lesson I think for us pro-life people should be to support the pro-life organisations in lobbying politicians for gradual, incremental changes to the abortion legislation, but in the right direction,” Senator Mullen said.