Colm Fitzpatrick
People must not become distracted by irrelevant narratives which attempt to sway voters away from the reality of repealing the Eighth Amendment, a Legal Consultant to the Pro-Life Rally has warned.
Speaking at a Cork rally to retain Ireland’s constitutional protections for the unborn on April 7, lawyer Caroline Simons said that the referendum next month has nothing to do with failures in the Church, or with deaths where the media have given the impression that the cause was due to the Eighth Amendment.
“This referendum is not about the tragic death of Ann Lovett and her baby, it is not about the Kerry babies or the Tuam babies or the Magdalene laundries, it is not about the failure to see sepsis developing in Savita Halappanavar or about clerical sexual abuse. It’s not about any of these things,” she said.
“What the vote on May 25th is about, is removing the only constitutional protection that the unborn child has.”
At the rally which had estimated crowds of around 2,000 people, Ms Simons also said that the electorate will not be “fooled” by Minister for Health, Simon Harris’ suggestion that abortion up to 12 weeks in all cases was in some way being restrictive.