The Irish parliament (Dáil) recently rejected the Reproductive Rights (Amendment) Bill, proposed by the Social Democrats, by 85 votes to 30, with 36 abstentions.

The Green Party, People Before Profit and the Labour Party supported the draft law, while Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill rejected the it, and the 36 members of the Sinn Féin party abstained.

The Bill was a free vote as abortion is considered a conscience issue.

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When asked about the draft law before it was disscussed and voted, Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin, said that there was no “collective party position or Government position”.

For Martin, the decriminalization is “highly problematic”, because there were “significant flaws” in the Bill, and it would undermine “the entire legislative template that was enacted post the referendum”.

Removing abortion barriers

The Social Democrats' Bill aimed to abolish the three-day waiting period for an abortion; revise the criteria for a termination on the grounds of fatal foetal abnormality; and remove the criminal sanctions for doctors, who could face up to 14 years in prison for breaking the law.

Current legislation only permits abortion up to 12 weeks of pregnancy or later if there is a risk to the mother’s life or health, or if the foetus suffers from a fatal anomaly that is likely to result in death before or within 28 days of birth.

The draft law proposed the removal of the 28-day limit.

"The mandatory three-day waiting period is another example of a barrier that exists not because of medicine but because of politics and once again, it is women who pay the price", Holly Cairns, leader of the Social Democrats, said.

According to Cairns, , “the World Health Organisation is in favor of decriminalization and the removal of mandatory wait periods, meaning Ireland is out of step with international best practice”.

However, the health minister told deputies that the limit was set at 28 days because where a condition exists resulting in the death of a live-born infant, “that death nearly always occurs in the first 28 days”.

She also recalled that of about 190 deaths last year, about 150 were within that period.

Nick Park: “Cynical and dishonest” proposal

For Nick Park, executive director of Evangelical Alliance Ireland, “this latest push to remove all barriers to abortion is cynical, dishonest, and cloaks a denial of the fundamental right to life under the guise of ‘reproductive rights’”.

Park said in an interview with Christian news website, Christian Daily International that the promise that abortion would be “safe, legal and rare” in Ireland has already proven false.

He also reaffirmed that “Evangelical Alliance Ireland is passionate about protecting people’s rights”, including the rights of women, of men, of children and unborn children”.