ABC cases V Ireland: Update
We reported in our newsletter of October 8th on the most recent attempt to create a right to abortion in Ireland through the European Court of Human Rights, that three pro-life organisations, the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC), The Family Research Council (FRC) represented by the Alliance Defence Fund (ADF) and the European Centre for Law and Justice (ECLJ) on behalf of Kathy Sinnott MEP, were granted permission by the European Court of Human Rights to jointly intervene in the case. The deadline for submission of the joint brief was Friday 14th Nov. (Link to Joint brief). The applicants in the case A,B and C will now be given time to respond to the joint brief
The case involves three women, two of whom are Irish and one of Latvian resident in Ireland, known as A,B and C. The women claim their health and wellbeing were undermined because they had to travel abroad for abortion. The Irish Family Planning Association (IFPA) which has links with the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) one of the largest abortion providers in the World supports the case which it says could force change in Ireland's pro-life position.
We also include links to an ADF statement and to the SPUC director John Smeaton's Blog both of which report on the issue
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LISBON TREATY UPDATE
David Fieldsend of Care for Europe who was in Dublin to address an Oireachtas (Irish Government) committee hearing on the Lisbon Treaty also addressed a meeting in Buswell's hotel in Dublin on Tuesday 11th Nov.
Fieldsend told the meeting that EU Institutions are increasingly seeking to influence national practice in the area of social issues previously felt to be a matter of subsidiarity. Seeming 'safeguards' in the Treaties appear to have been all too easily got round by re-classifying the issue to appear under a different heading or article of the Treaties where action is not restricted - or just by putting a new and unexpected interpretation on the Treaty wording.
Fieldsend told the meeting that past experience does not give him great comfort that just keeping something out of the Treaty is a cast iron guarantee and he recommended that Ireland ringfence Articles 40-44 of the Constitution which protect fundamental rights, including religious freedom, the right to life and the family based on marriage. "For the full reassurance of religious voters I would respectfully suggest that at least the whole of Articles 40 to 44 of the Constitution should be considered for protection and that such protection should not be merely from the Treaty content itself, but also extend to any laws subsequently enacted under those Treaties and the judgments of the European Court of Justice" For further information see BLOG POST | |
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We have a variety of stories this week,
We have an update on the ABC case V Ireland and have linked to the Joint pro-life brief submitted by SPUC, The Family Research Council and the ECLJ.
We have an update on the discussions surrounding Ireland's rejection of the Lisbon Treaty and we report on a new threat to natural law human rights from an unelected network of experts appointed by the European Commission
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Fertility treatment for married couples only
According to a Sunday Independent article a fertility clinic in Galway is refusing to treat unmarried couples who are experiencing difficulties starting a family. The highly successful Fertility Care clinic headed by Dr. Phil Boyle which, has shown that its NaproTechnology approach to fertility treatment is superior to IVF, has become the preferred option for many couples who suffer from infertility.
According to the article Dr Boyle's refusal to treat unmarried couples has led to complaints to the Irish Medical Council, which found that he is not bound to treat either unmarried couples or single mothers. Dr Boyle said that when the code of ethics for fertility care was introduced in 1985, it was considered professional malpractice to treat non-married couples.
The Sunday Independent article says that the decision to restrict fertility services to married couples has been described as "very odd" by Fine Gael's health spokesman Dr James Reilly who accused the Galway Clinic of trying "to impose certain moralities on patients."
Responding to the article Dr Boyle in a statement pointed out that "The Irish Medical Council Ethical guidelines in 1985 stated that it is professional misconduct for a doctor to offer fertility treatment to unmarried couples. The current ethical guide makes no reference to a couple's marital status, but certainly does not oblige doctors to treat unmarried couples. Dr Boyle explained that the decision to restrict fertility treatment to married couples was in the best interest of the child and pointed to UK statistics which show that children born to an unmarried couple have a 25% chance of seeing their parents separate by the age of 5 compared to just 10% of children who are born to married parents. (Millennium Cohort Study UK).
Dr Boyle denied the accusation that Fertility Care seeks to "impose" its morality on couples seeking treatment, as stated by health spokesman for Fine Gael Dr. James Reilly. "Rather", Dr. Boyle said, " we seek the right to practice fertility treatment in a way that places the welfare of the child at the centre of our decision making".
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Abortionist converts to protection of life
Catholic News Agency carries the extraordinary story of a Serbian abortionist who converted to the pro-life cause after performing 48,000 abortions. Stojan Adasevic performed up to 35 abortions a day at the height of his career until he began to have a recurring dream in which he saw children running away from him in terror whilst a man in a habit watched him in silence. Finally, the man told him that the children were those he had killed through abortion and that his name was Thomas Aquinas - a name that Adasevic had never heard of, having had an entirely secular Soviet education. see also my BLOG POST which has a link to a you tube video |
Pro-Life and Pro-Family concern at creation of a new EU network of independent experts
Pro-life and pro-family groups have expressed grave concern at the appointment by the EU Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) of a new network of independent experts known as FRALEX which has been given the exclusive role of providing legal advice to the Fundamental Rights Agency on the basis of a framework contract worth 10 million Euro over 4 years. Pro-life concerns relate to the similarity of this new network of experts, to the panel of experts which, issued the Opinion on a Concordat agreed between Slovakia and the Holy See aimed at upholding the right of staff in Catholic hospitals to refuse to perform abortions or to be involved in fertility treatments that destroy life. The panel of experts found that the right of conscientious objection would interfere with the "right of all women to receive certain medical services or counselling without any discrimination". In effect the panel of experts found that a woman's right to have an abortion trumped the right to conscientious objection, an opinion which caused the fall of the then Slovakian government. Philomena Buckley of NEART asks, "what can we expect from this new network of experts, now that it has been reconstituted and provided with a larger budget, more staff and more institutional power? The FRA will apparently use the network to mainstream EU policies on human rights. The precedence of the Legal Opinion on Conscientious objection does not auger well for the future". The very first task of FRALEX was to issue a study on homophobia, which was the subject of a round table conference in Riga on Nov. 14, to which FRA invited all homosexual lobby groups, but did not balance this in any way by inviting other interested parties. |
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International Pro-Life Conference
An international prolife conference together with several prolife actions will take place in the Netherlands and then in Brussels,from December 5 (arrival in the evening) to December 11, 2008 (departure in the morning),
for the celebration of the 60 years of the Human Rights Universal Declaration.
Saturday Dec.6th, 2008 :March for Life in Amsterdam
Sunday 7 Dec. 7th, 2008 : Prayer for Life in Amsterdam
Monday 8 and Tuesday 9 of december, 2008 : several sessions of conferences
Wednesday Dec 10th : Departure for Brussels, and Celebration of the 60 years of the human Rights Universal Declaration at the Resident Palace Press Center. Later prolife action at Parc Léopold.
Information and Registration: Schreeuw om Leven (Cry For Life) Ruitersweg 37a 1211 KT Hilversum Holland
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