Tomorrow Wednesday, 15th November the Dáil is due to vote on the final stage of the so-called ‘Safe Access Zones’ Bill (Health (Termination of Pregnancy Services) (Safe Access Zones) Bill 2023). The vote is due to take place at around 6pm.
The Pro Life Campaign has argued strongly against this Bill, which is unnecessary, draconian, and discriminatory. In our detailed submission to the Joint Health Committee last year, we outlined the case against exclusion zones from various perspectives.
The Bill before the Dáil would create sprawling 100-metre zones around every GP clinic and hospital in the country irrespective of whether they provide abortions or not. There is no option for a pro-life doctor to opt out of his/her premises being designated a ‘safe access zone’ for example.
The scale of the Bill’s impact has not been fully appreciated even by its supporters. Táilte Éireann (formerly the OSI) was commissioned by the Department of Health to try and get a handle on just how much territory would be covered. In recent parliamentary question replies, the government has refused to answer how many zones the law will create. But common sense would suggest it will create innumerable zones across Ireland, which will be particularly concentrated in city spaces.
This law would undermine citizens’ fundamental rights, particularly the rights to freedom of assembly and freedom of expression. People have been arrested in England merely for silently praying and have been subjected to questions like “what is the nature of your prayer?” by police officers. This is sinisterly authoritarian.
Exclusion Zones are inherently discriminatory. This law would criminalise a person from standing in the vicinity of a zone with optional pro-life leaflets which contain information on alternatives to abortion which members of the public may wish to avail of. By contrast, the same person would be well within their legal right to hand out a leaflet on any other issue. This law actively discriminates against one particular ethical worldview.
This law is unnecessary and has largely been manufactured as an issue by abortion activists. UL Hospitals Group in Limerick stated in December 2021 it had no record of complaints from patients about protestors in the wake of allegations made by an abortion lobbying group. In mid-September 2023, the CUMH in Cork additionally stated it had received no complaints from patients or staff about protests. CUMH acknowledged there were very infrequent ‘protests’ consisting of just 2-4 people, which can hardly be regarded as a protest.
We have written to all TDs to ask them to reflect on these arguments and urge them to vote against this Bill. However, the imposition of the whip by the government, due to the government regrettably not treating this as a conscience issue, is likely to frustrate attempts to even appeal to government TDs’ sense of reason on this matter.
In the likely event of this legislation passing, we will be looking at options to challenge it.
If you can, please do take a moment to contact your TD by email to ask him/her to vote against this draconian proposal tomorrow evening. You can access contact details of TDs here.
Thank you for your ongoing commitment and support at this time.
