Irish Lawmakers Vote 127-31 to Legalize Abortion in Life-Saving Cases

[Hissyspit]

Source: Associated Press

IRISH LAWMAKERS VOTE 127-31 TO LEGALIZE ABORTION FOR LIFE-SAVING CASES, INCLUDING SUICIDE RISK

Jul. 11 7:29 PM EDT


DUBLIN (AP) — Irish lawmakers vote 127-31 to legalize abortion for life-saving cases, including suicide risk.


Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/irish-lawmakers-vote-127-31-legalize-abortion-life-saving-cases-including-suicide-risk

[Politicub]

1. At least it's a start

Women everywhere should have the right to make a choice, and this law falls short of that. But at least there's a crack in the wall.

[sakabatou]

10. Yes, it's a good start

[kestrel91316]

2. Awesome. At least now when the RW ends access to abortion in the US, some women

will be able to go to Ireland to save their lives.

[smirkymonkey]

3. It's about time!

[Ken Burch]

4. which parties cast the 31 "no" votes?

Are their areas in the 26 County State where it's still considered important to be more Catholic than the Pope on this issue?

[rpannier]

7. Found more

Lucinda Creighton for one: The Europe minister Lucinda Creighton was expelled from the Fine Gael parliamentary party. Creighton voted against the abortion law reform and is now expected to lose her ministerial job as well.

I'm looking for who the others are

Terence Flanagan, Peter Matthews, Billy Timmins and Brian Walsh all voted against the bill but it's unclear whether they voted only the first time when it was 138-24 or both times because they were expelled from the Fein Gael Party after the preliminary vote last week

Michael Healy-Rae
Éamon Ó Cuív

There is no listing of how they voted. I can only guess from their statements on the floor that the above mentioned voted No

[MsPithy]

5. So, they voted to save one life instead of killing two. Woo Hoo!

For pity's sake! Why is this not a no-brainer for every human on the face of the earth?

[theHandpuppet]

6. Makes me wonder about the 31 who voted "no"

How would you like to be a woman in their families?

[rpannier]

8. I am looking for the names

I have found 5 (see post 7).
One of them was a woman and a fairly influential member of the ruling party. Though she's not a member any longer

[muriel_volestrangler]

11. 6 voted against it because they thought it didn't go far enough

Former Labour minister Roisin Shortall abstained on the Bill. Former Labour TD Colm Keaveney voted against as did five independents and Socialist Party TD Joe Higgins, because they believed the legislation did not go far enough.

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/abortion-bill-goes-to-seanad-after-coalition-wins-vote-1.1460261

Six pro-choice TDs are to vote against the legislation, claiming it does not go far enough to protect the lives of women. Richard Boyd Barrett, Clare Daly, Mick Wallace, Luke Ming Flanagan, Joe Higgins and Joan Collins have claimed the bill is unnecessarily restrictive and criticised the fact it seeks to criminalise women who have an unlawful abortion.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/irish-abortion-vote-delayed-as-late-late-debate-postponed-into-second-day-8702200.html

[rpannier]

9. Been reading the debate transcripts

From Deputy Clare Daly
I agree with other Deputies who have said the root of this inequity lies in the appalling constitutional provision which equates the life of a woman with the life of an unborn. This is ludicrous and it has put a Chinese wall between women's lives and their health and means that the medical profession is faced with a choice in waiting until a woman is almost at death's door before doctors can intervene to save her life. That will continue, a situation which was so eloquently described by the Minister for Justice and Equality when we introduced our Private Members' Bill the second time around, and will still be the case after today. It can truly be said the right of pregnant women to have their health protected under our constitutional framework is a qualified right, as is their right to bodily integrity and that will remain the position. This is a republic in which we proclaim the equality of all citizens, but in reality some citizens are more equal than others. The rancid hypocrisy of exporting women from this country in their thousands will continue, as will the intolerable cruelty of people being forced to carry to full term or travel to England in cases in which there is a fatal foetal abnormality. That is the root of this issue and what we want tackled. We are adamant that it will be tackled and that there should be a repeal of the eighth amendment.

*******************
It's a long process as there are 129 pages to the debate, but for those who are interested in reading what was said

http://oireachtasdebates.oireachtas.ie/debates%20authoring/debateswebpack.nsf/takes/dail2013071000012?opendocument

this link should take you to page 12 of the debate

[RitchieRich]

12. why is this not front page news anywhere?

it's hidden away in the middle of Washington Post, didn't even find it on GuardianUK (a search only turned up old stories). I did find multiple stories covering on CNN, perhaps I should start visiting them again.

[sinkingfeeling]

13. One tiny step forward.

[Tx4obama]

14. Kick n/t