Foetal Pain Relief Bill to progress to Second Stage in Dáil next week
Carol Nolan TD
Dear Friend,
Great news this afternoon with the announcement that the Foetal Pain Relief Bill 2021, introduced by Carol Nolan TD and co-sponsored by ten other deputies, is progressing next Wednesday to Second Stage in the Dáil, where it will be debated and voted on during Private Members time.
The active encouragement and support for this Bill from pro-life people around the country was instrumental in securing its progress to date. We all need to lobby hard in the coming days to ensure TDs vote in favour of this humane and important piece of legislation.
Scientific evidence clearly shows that unborn babies feel pain, with the most recent research suggesting it occurs much earlier than 20 weeks. Under Ireland’s current abortion law, there is no requirement on those performing abortions to give precautionary pain relief to an unborn baby, despite the fact that the law permits late-term abortions in certain circumstances.
The Bill before the Dáil next week is a modest measure that simply seeks to ensure that no baby is forced to endure unnecessary pain as his or her life is being ended. It’s important to recall that the Dáil passed legislation in 2013 obligating vets to administer pain relief to animals before any procedure takes place that may cause an animal suffering or distress. It is an affront to human decency that babies about to be aborted are treated less humanely than animals.
Alongside Carol Nolan, the Bill has been generously co-sponsored by Éamon Ó Cuív; Peadar Tóibín, Mattie McGrath, Peter Fitzpatrick, Sean Canney, Michael Collins, Michael Healy Rae, Danny Healy Rae, Noel Grealish and Richard O’Donoghue. All of these politicians should be commended for their hard work and commitment.
Our heartfelt thanks go to all the TDs who sponsored the bill and got it to this stage.
We are calling on EVERYONE to contact their TDs in the coming days to ask them to vote in favour of the Bill next week to ensure it moves closer to the final stage in the Dáil.
