We have seen it so many times – a law gets liberalised to the extent that parliamentarians or the public will accept, and then, despite assurances, safeguards gradually get chipped away.
The ongoing effort to remove the three-day wait to access abortion ‘services’ attracted a little attention last week, but not enough, considering the life and death matter involved. The discussion, on The Hard Shoulder (Newstalk, Wednesday), illustrated many of the issues involved. It was prompted by the Irish College of General Practitioners (ICGP) supporting the removal of the mandatory three-day wait (while favouring an optional wait) and their appearance before the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Health. Colm Burke TD (Fine Gael) was against removing it. He found indeed that some of the doctors providing termination ‘services’ thought it was worth retaining and didn’t see it as obstructive – people needed time to reflect, and also it protected GPs against claims of inappropriate advice. He pointed out that 14 other EU countries had mandatory waiting periods, sometimes longer than ours. Tellingly, it transpired in that committee meeting that the ICGP had not consulted their members on the matter! Footage of that appearance is available on Oireachtas TV, and widely on social media – showing the ICGP representatives being forensically questioned, e.g. by Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín TD. Not only had they not questioned their members, but it appears they hadn’t spoken with the women who may have benefitted by the three-day wait, who, as Tóibín pointed out, may be at home now with babies alive because of the reflective period. It was embarrassing and cringeworthy to see the ICGP representations trying to wriggle out of it.
On the same show Marie Sherlock TD (Labour) described the ICGP as an “impartial professional body” – though, having taken the stand they took, it’s hard to see how the “impartial” bit can be true. She referred to their “expertise”, though it seemed to me that what was on view was more their ideology. Further she found it ‘deeply disappointing’ to see, as she put it, the bona fides of the ICGP reps, being questioned and undermined. I would suggest that there needs to be more questioning. She spoke of the ICGP “relaying the experiences of their members”, when it was obvious that they weren’t. She criticised the TDs and senators for having an “obsession” about whether ICGP members were surveyed!
I thought presenter Ciara Kelly’s questioning was even-handed, but nobody on that Newstalk programme referred to the babies whose lives were saved by the three-day wait – sadly, the babies are usually excluded from this debate.
In a different debate, on Adam Boulton with Sunday Morning (Times Radio) UK Minister for Women and Equalities Briget Phillipson MP spoke about misogyny and violence against women – the perpetrators were usually men, and usually men who were current or ex-partners of the women or known to them. Boulton pressed her on why the Government wasn’t compiling or publicising statistics on what proportion of the perpetrators were asylum seekers or members of communities with different attitudes to women incompatible with British values. She wasn’t against the idea of understanding the backgrounds of perpetrators, but seemed reluctant to get into ethnic profiling. As for burkas and niqabs, Boulton suggested it was Muslim men forcing women to dress like this. Phillipson didn’t want herself or the government telling women how to dress, which didn’t quite address the point. Some dress codes were religious – she was Catholic and when she recently represented her government at a canonisation in the Vatican (“enormous privilege”), she chose to wear the customary mantilla veil. Boulton brought up the issue of Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury Sarah Mullally giving an award (since withdrawn) to an Imam, who had, apparently, praised Osama Bin Laden at some stage, while his wife stood beside them in a burka. Incendiary topics or what!
As an antidote you could turn to Healing Sounds (RTÉ Radio 1, Saturday) with Malachi Cush interviewing young athlete Nick Griggs, mainly about the loss of his brother Josh in a road accident, and playing music important to his healing process. Cush had a very easy-going empathic style of interviewing and Griggs was very positive and thoughtful, still with a strong sense of his late brother in his life. As with his wider family he is supportive of cross-community activities in the North. It’s well worth a listen, as is Cush’s latest Gospel album, also called ‘Healing Sounds’.
Pick of the week
THE SIMPSONS
Channel 4, Sunday September 27, 9am
Bart sells his soul to Milhouse for some pogs, and is surprised at how painful the loss is. (S7 Ep4)
EWTN Live
EWTN, Monday, September 28, 6am
Bro. Guy Consolmagno, SJ, astronomer, Jesuit Brother, and former Director of the Vatican Observatory, joins the conversation to explore a profound harmony between science and faith.
MOVIE: THE MISSION
Film 4, Tuesday (night) September 29, 1.15am
(1986) Oscar winning drama about Jesuit priests working with indigenous people in South America. Stars Robert de Niro, Jeremy Irons, Ray McAnally and Liam Neeson.
