Cultured Views

No woman believes that abortion is a great thing – no woman actively seeks to fall pregnant just so that she can go around to a doctor for a termination out of sheer boredom. Abortion is a horrible, ugly and traumatic procedure – it kills a developing life. But abortion – access to safe, legal abortion – is also a necessity and a fundamental right of every woman everywhere regardless of her circumstances. No woman should be forced by any man-made law to endure a pregnancy against her will – no person anywhere is forced by law to endure a physical condition against their will under any other circumstances so any law stopping a woman from terminating her pregnancy is effectively taking ownership and control of a woman’s body from her.

Since the dawn of time women have sought to terminate unwanted pregnancies and there have always been people who opposed their right to choose whether or not to give birth. No woman supports abortion as a great past-time – it is a vile experience – but the choice to proceed with a condition that will occupy ten months (yes, pregnancy takes 40 weeks…) of her life, affect her physical and psychological well-being, involve discomfort, ultimate agony and then a lifetime of coping with the resulting child HAS to remain the sole domain of the individual woman. No man ever has to make such a choice therefore there are no exact same laws which men have to conform to…this in itself is why anti-abortion laws are morally reprehensible. It is a law that is made and aimed at women specifically.

The Republic of Ireland retains the most draconian attitudes to abortion in western society, the laws prohibiting Irish women from seeking safe, legal abortion in their own country were made by MEN and the Roman Catholic Church. This is a country which only in recent times allowed the sale of condoms in shops dear folk – this is a country which is claiming to stay committed to protecting the lives of unborn babies whilst for decades – centuries – it’s police and government looked the other way while Roman Catholic clergy abused and defiled Irish children across the land. Rank hypocrisy!

In a move which is well overdue the Irish abortion law is to be challenged in the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg on the basis that it violates the human rights of women to seek safe, legal abortion in their own country. As it stands Irish women have to travel abroad if they wish to terminate a pregnancy, even a rape victim must prove beyond doubt the pregnancy will be detrimental to her health and well-being. European law states that medical care must be provided without ‘undue delay or cost to the patient’  – Irish law clearly contravenes this. The reasons why a woman seeks an abortion are none of my business, nor are they yours, but she should be free to do so and with as much counselling and effective medical care as can be provided. Just what is the Irish Government afraid of by giving it’s women the same rights as those throughout the UK, Australia, United States and other developed countries…is it being excommunicated…?

Related posts:

1. The Roman Catholic Church in Ireland: the worlds largest paedophile ring finally exposed.
2. The Lisbon Treaty: the Irish have made up their minds…again.
3. When it was open-season on children in Ireland
4. The one day when the whole world is Irish…or so it seems.
5. Northern Ireland and Catalonia – different countries, same problem