Mags GarganPLC chairwoman challenges ‘incredible ignorance’
The Pro-Life Campaign (PLC) has criticised trade unionists for campaigning for a new referendum on abortion, without seeking the endorsement of their fellow members.
Figures from many of Ireland’s largest trade unions met this week to launch a campaign to repeal the eight amendment of the Constitution.
In a statement on the ‘Trade Union Campaign to Repeal the 8th Amendment’ representatives described the ban as archaic, sectarian, an affront to women’s rights and a major source of discrimination.
Referendum
Figures from Impact, Unite, the Teachers’ Union of Ireland, the Union of Students in Ireland, the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, the Retired Teachers’ Association, the National Union of Journalists, the Dublin Council of Trade Unions and the African women’s network Akidwa have called for members to support calls for a new referendum on abortion.
The PLC’s Cora Sherlock criticised this public intervention by trade union members, saying that they have “displayed an incredible ignorance of basic facts regarding the abortion debate”.
“I find it amazing that some of these union representatives feel they have a right to speak in public in the name of their unions on such a sensitive issue without ever seeking the endorsement of their fellow members.
“This is something that definitely needs to be challenged,” she said.
100 Women
Meanwhile Ms Sherlock, a Dublin solicitor and deputy chairwoman of the PLC, was the only Irish woman named one of this year’s ‘100 Women’ by the BBC.
The broadcaster launched the 100 Women series last year as part of its pledge to represent women better in its international news output.
Described by the BBC as a “pro-life campaigner and blogger in Ireland”, Ms Sherlock joined noted activists, scientists, artists, businesswomen, writers and educators on the list, which the BBC said are “not only women to take notice of now, but ones to watch in the future, too”.