Catholic Primate of All Ireland, Archbishop Eamon Martin, has criticised the government’s Safe Access Zones legislation, while highlighting the tens of millions of euro spent by the State on abortion.
Archbishop Martin said that the introduction of the “punitive sanctions” will undermine the common good by “disproportionately shutting down the rights of those who wish to peacefully and prayerfully” offer alternatives to abortion.
The Catholic Archbishop of Armagh, in a statement released through the Irish Catholic Bishops Conference, said he believed the legislation would increase fears that freedom of religion, belief, expression and association were being “undermined and open to attack.”
Speaking on Newstalk Breakfast following the release of his comments, the Archbishop of Armagh expanded on his statement, telling the programme that while €50 million had been spent on abortion services, he was not aware of any investment in alternatives.
In October, during a joint Oireachtas Committee on Health, Senator Sharon Keogan revealed: “Some €11.2 million has been spent per year on abortion services” as she demanded answers from Chair of the Abortion Review, Marie O’Shea.
In February, in response to a parliamentary question, it was also revealed that close to €1 million had also been spent by the State solely on advertising its ‘MyOptions’ abortion service – which in turn made sure it would outperform adverts from pregnancy centres advertising alternatives, with such centres decried as “rogue agencies” by the Health Minister for not offering abortions.
Asked what concerns he had about the abortion zones Bill, Archbishop Martin said that “all of this is happening without much of a public debate” — while the number of abortions in Ireland seemed to be “spiralling out of control.”
Safe Access Zones legislation, which was passed overwhelmingly in the Dail in November by 117 votes to 10, is set to outlaw prayer gatherings or other peaceful demonstrations held outside GP centres, health centres, and hospitals offering abortion within a 100 metre zone. Offences will, under the Bill, be punishable by a fine or time in prison.
The legislation outlines: “The Bill sets the penalty for a first offence as a Class E fine, which would be a fine of up to €500, or a month imprisonment, or both. For a second offence, it is a Class D fine, a fine of up to €1,000, or up to three months imprisonment, or both.”
It was debated in the Seanad last week, during which two senators, Ronan Mullen and Sharon Keogan, expressed concern about its implications.
In a statement released ahead of the discussion in the Seanad on Thursday, Archbishop Martin said that the imposition of “so-called “safe” abortion zones will further silence the voice of the innocent unborn.”
“Given that the law already prevents harassment and intimidation, I believe the new legislation represents a disproportionate response with potentially wide implications for freedom of religion and speech,” he said.
The senior figure in the Catholic Church continued: “The discussions about abortion in recent years have made us much more aware of the pressures that women can be under during pregnancy and how so many can feel isolated, neglected and alone in their distress. Tragic, and sometimes desperate, situations like these will not go away just because abortion centres are ‘sealed off’ from peaceful vigils.”
The cleric said it was “perfectly reasonable” to want to reach out “in compassion” to help women, and to “be free to protect the life and well-being of both a mother and her unborn child.”
“Over the years many mothers in crisis have felt supported – sometimes at the very last minute – by a sensitive offer of practical help to find a way out of their crisis other than by ending the life of their unborn baby,” Archbishop Martin said.
‘A REASONABLE OPINION’
He also insisted that harassment laws were “already in place” to prevent intimidation, adding:
“The introduction of punitive sanctions will undermine the Common Good as they disproportionately shut down the rights of those who wish to peacefully and prayerfully offer support and alternative options and to save the lives of innocent unborn children.”
“What next?” he asked in the statement. “How long before it is deemed unlawful to openly express in Ireland the reasonable opinion that there are two lives in every pregnancy worth protecting – the life of a mother and the life of her unborn child?”
“Will those who believe that the ending of unborn life is of the utmost moral significance, and who have sincerely held beliefs that every human life is sacred from the first moment of conception, be told that they are not free to express these beliefs anywhere in a public forum?” he asked.
Appearing on Newstalk with Shane Coleman, the Archbishop said the abortion rate was “spiralling”: “This year, they’re expecting possibly 10,000 abortions,” he said.
“We were told during the referendum campaign [that] abortion would be rare,” he said during the interview.
“We would see this particular legislation as further demonising anybody who holds the view that we actually have two lives here, two lives worthy of protection and help, even at the very last moment, offering further alternatives and other possibilities to women who might be in distress,” he told the radio programme.
He said that he would condemn any type of intimidation or harassment, but told Coleman that laws were in place in Ireland to deal with such situations.
“And yet, we’re not aware from the Gardai or from others that there are a large number of these situations where people are harassed or intimidated.
“If somebody wants to stand outside a medical centre, a hospital, to pray, they will not be able to do so under this new legislation – even peaceful, prayerful vigils where people are praying for the mothers, praying for the unborn children, praying for the staff inside the hospital.
“That’s also going to be illegal and subject to punitive sanctions, like a fine or even imprisonment, I suppose.
“I suppose what we’re trying to say here [is] we really need in this country more and more opportunities to provide alternatives to women.
“I’m not sure if people of this country realise that upwards of €50 million has now been spent on abortion services, but we’re not aware of any alternatives or any investment in trying to give women in distress, or parents in distress, any other options,” he said.
He said that the legislation was not necessarily about the use of graphic imagery, but that it was about outlawing any kind of behaviour near an abortion facility “where there could be deemed to be influencing a woman’s choice.”
Archbishop Martin said that it would mean that even if a good friend of a woman wanted to go and speak to someone going to the abortion centre to offer support or alternatives, “that would be illegal for them to do so.” He also pointed to a scenario where someone’s mother came to a place providing abortion to say to their daughter, “I’m here to help you.”
Host Shane Coleman questioned “how realistic” such a scenario would be – “surely that would be a case made well prior to that?” he asked.
“That is something of a red herring argument, is it not?” he pressed, to which Archbishop Martin responded, “Not really. I think to save a life you would go to the very last moment.”
He told Coleman that it appeared that unless the unborn child was wanted, they had “no safety” and “no rights whatsoever.”
Comments made by People Before Profit TD Brid Smith were referenced in the programme. Smith, who has called for wider access to abortion and the scrapping of current time limits, last week criticised Archbishop Martin’s comments. She responded by saying that “what I’m going to try and do over the next period is to improve the abortion laws in line with Dr O’Shea’s review to make it better and safer.”
A Bill to decriminalise abortion, put forward by Smith, passed by a slim majority in the Dáil at the end of May. It has been described as “extreme” – with Health Minister Stephen Donnelly saying it “goes miles beyond what people voted for” in the 2018 referendum. The legislation, which passed its second stage, would remove the three-day wait, and would fully decriminalise abortion, while removing the prison sentence for medical professionals performing abortions outside the law.
‘ANYONE IS ENTITLED TO EXPRESS THEIR OPINION WITHOUT BEING DEEMED TO BE OFFENSIVE’
The Health Minister, a prominent advocate for Repeal, told the media at the time that “the Bill does not respect that vote at all because it goes way beyond that vote.”
Addressing Smith’s criticism of his comments, which she labelled “depressing” and “deeply offensive to women and pregnant people,” Archbishop Martin told Newstalk that anyone had a right to express their opinion.
“Let’s just take that as an example,” the Church leader said. “There’s a democratic debate going on here. This legislation is going through the Seanad. Anyone is entitled to express their opinion without being deemed to be offensive against women. I would like the Deputy to really look at the funding for abortion in this country, and ask, what are we doing to help the women?
“We don’t even know what are the emotional, the physical, or whatever the reasons are – because there’s no research [and] no data being kept in this country about why people go for abortion. And I really think the Deputy could be really moving to look at these issues, so we could indeed help women.”
Asked by Coleman if he was trying to “refight the abortion referendum” and the “clear decision” made in that referendum, Archbishop Martin responded by saying that “just because we had the abortion referendum does not make it right to take away the life of an unborn child.”
He insisted that “the debate continues” despite the referendum, and that “the right to life can’t be taken away by any unjust law.”
“I think we’ll continue to try to witness for the mother [and] for the life of the unborn child,” he stated.
“And eventually Ireland will come back, it will accept the truth one day – as indeed many other parts of the world will – that we’re dealing with two lives here,” he added.
“The Gospel of life can’t be silenced,” he told the breakfast programme.
The senior church figure said it had “never been more important” to “courageously witness to the inviolable dignity of every human life.”
“The Gospel of Life is, quite literally, Good News for our world in which there is, sadly, so much violence, destruction and unnecessary death. It is Good News for the world to hold that every human life is a precious gift from God – including the lives of all mothers and their unborn children. This remains true, always and everywhere,” he penned.
The Catholic prelate went on to write that the right to life was not something conferred “by any human law” – but that it is “God’s most precious gift to us,” adding: “The innocent life in the womb is not a “something”; it is a “someone.”
“Science confirms that it is, in reality, a little girl or boy at a very early stage in her or his life,” he continued. “To hold this truth, and to express it openly, is not something to be ashamed of, or to be excluded from public discourse, censored from newspaper columns, shut down in debates, or kept out via ‘safe access zones’!
“It is something we should be able to shout from the rooftops: All human life is sacred and precious. Choose life.”
Independent Senator Sharon Keogan, in the Seanad on Thursday, said that the Archbishop “was absolutely correct” in his comments.
She told the House: “He asked, “What next? How long before it is deemed unlawful to openly express in Ireland the reasonable opinion that there are two lives in every pregnancy worth protecting – the life of a mother and the life of her unborn child?”
“I fear that this Government is putting through this House a raft of legislation that when combined, will severely curtail our human rights and civic freedoms.”
“It is yet another Government Bill that seeks to punish opposition to the prevailing narrative, to copperfasten the supremacy of the majority over the minority opinion. It is a terrible proposal and I will not support this Bill.”