Simon Harris Wants Women to be Able to Abort Disabled Babies ASAP
Simon Harris has told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland that he will look specifically at two areas of the forthcoming abortion legislation – the ability for a doctor to give information and referral, and the decriminalisation of women.
The Health Minister wants legislative reform in place before the end of the year to allow the killing of unborn babies with life-limiting conditions - not only that, but he wants to actually now wants to fast-track this measure.
Government figures have denied that Minister Simon Harris was considering introducing an interim law to assist women who have received a diagnosis of a fatal foetal abnormality and to decriminalise women who procure an abortion, reports the Irish Times. The Government says it will seek to implement one piece of legislation, which will not be introduced until the legal challenge to the referendum result concludes.
Presently, the law remains the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act, which states abortion is only legal when a mother’s life is at risk.
“Don’t make disability an issue”, he said
In the run-up to the referendum on the eighth amendment, Simon Harris was reported as saying, that “the committee [considering the Eighth Amendment] did not recommend disability as a grounds for abortion nor do I think it should have, I would abhor that idea… it’s not grounds for an abortion. If you look at what the committee considered and what it accepted and rejected, the idea of abnormalities that are not fatal was not put in as a grounds for abortion.”
Precious Life's Bernadette Smyth responded to Harris's comment: "It is very clear that Simon Harris is making a very deliberate effort to distance himself from the horrifying reality that the Republic of Ireland's new abortion legislation will undoubtedly lead to babies with disabilities being targeted and killed in the womb purely because of the disability they may have. It is also crucial to note that 'fatal foetal abnormality', a term repeatedly employed by Harris and other abortion proponents, is not a medical term, and that most babies with life-limiting conditions do live for some time after birth, and very often, go on to live long, happy, fulfilled lives. The truth is that Mr Harris believes that babies with more severe disabilities than others are not deserving of life, which is not only upsetting but is truly abhorrent."