This was among other changes the bill would have introduced aimed at making Ireland’s abortion law even more liberal than at present.
Commenting on the appointment, the Pro-Life Campaign said: “In keeping with his leadership style since 2011, Micheal Martin has again given preference to a member of his parliamentary party who promotes a pro-abortion agenda, through the appointment today of Fianna Fail TD Catherine Ardagh as Minister of State at the Department of Justice.”
The statement continued: “The recent Social Democrats bill to abolish the three-day wait before abortion and widen the grounds for late-term abortions was opposed by 85 TDs with just 30 supporting it.
“Catherine Ardagh was the sole member of Fianna Fáil to vote in favour of the Social Democrat bill.”
The statement concluded: “Micheál Martin would no doubt argue that abortion was not a primary consideration in the appointment. However, the fact remains that he has a record of elevating [pro-choice] members of the party over others and is doing nothing at present to address Ireland’s soaring abortion numbers, which reached 10,852 in the most recent year for which figures are available.”
The number of abortions taking place in Ireland has risen rapidly since Ireland voted to repeal the 8th amendment in 2018. In 2019, the first full year of the abortion law’s operation, 6,666 terminations took place in Ireland. The number of births per year is about 54,000.