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Shame on Labour for Opposing Fatal Foetal Abnormality Bill
Date: Tue, 2015-02-10 20:00
Tonight members of the Labour Party voted against a bill which would allow abortion in situations where the foetus has no prospect of survival.
Once again, the Labour Party vote against abortion legalisation on petty political grounds. Once again they promise that they will introduce legalisation. The first time they did this was in 1991, 22 years before the promised legalisation had not materialised. Labour lie, women die.
The second time they did this was after Savita Halappanavar died in October 2012. Within months of this they again voted against abortion.
Again they said wait, we will introduce legalisation, it will be better than the legalisation we voted against. Again they lied. It wasn’t better. It didn’t allow for abortion in the case of fatal foetal abnormalities, in fact it hardly allowed for abortion at all. On the foot of this legalisation, in 2014 a young suicidal woman was denied an abortion, forced to carry the foetus until it could be deliver via c-section.
Now, six months after that horror, labour once again betray women and show their promises are empty. They are playing petty party politics with the lives of Irish women. They have been doing this since 1991. They should be ashamed that they campaigned in the last election on their pro-choice promises. They should be ashamed of themselves.
We want to live in an Ireland where abortion is free, safe and legal. We want to live in an Ireland where people are supported through crises, where they are are met with kindness and care in times of grief, where women are treated as adults capable of making basic decisions about their own future. Sadly, this vision of an equal society is not shared by the Labour Party.
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Sinn Féin abstained from the vote.