The motion, backed by the party's leadership and central council, was
endorsed by a comfortable majority of delegates. Sinn Fein leader Gerry
Adams and deputy leader Mary Lou McDonald voted for motion 122 from the
stage of the auditorium.
The adoption of the motion meant that another motion, seeking the blanket
right to abortion wherever a woman seeks one, automatically fell. A similar
motion asking Sinn Féin to maintain the status quo - where abortion is allowed
only when the mother's life is at risk - also
lapsed.
However delegates adopted a
separate motion calling for the repeal of the 8th Amendment to the Constitution
of Ireland, which equates the lives of the mother and unborn child and which
restricts the circumstances under which abortion is
permissible.
Mary Lou McDonald said that allowing women and couples, whose unborn
children suffered from fatal fetal abnormality, was the "republican" thing to
do. “For me, the decent thing, the right thing, the republican thing to do is to
support the motion 122 and afford those women, their partners and their families
the dignity and small measure of comfort that choice represents for them,” she
said.
She added those women and
couples should be shown compassion and care, "but
above all, choice".
The discussion on abortion was among the most widely-debated issue at the
two-day conference in Derry's Millennium
Forum.
One delegate from Cork said unborn children suffering from fatal
fetal abnormalities deserved to be allowed to live for as long as their
conditions allowed.
Meath West TD Peadar Tóibín, who was disciplined for failing to vote with
his party in favor of proposed X case legislation in 2012, indicated earlier in
the day that he would not be voting in favor of the motion.
After the motion was carried, the party's health spokesman Caoimhghin Ó
Caoláin said; “I welcome the passing of this motion. It provides certainty and
clarity in terms of Sinn Féin's position.
“The motion recognizes the gravity and complexity of fatal fetal
abnormality which requires great compassion.
“It also highlights the difficulties women face who are forced to travel
abroad to access services because the law prevents women with fatal fetal
pregnancies to access legal abortion in Ireland, both North and
South."
Comment:
The passage of this resolution
by the Sinn Fein Ard Fheis removes any confusion or doubt that people may have
had about the party’s official position on the issue of abortion. They
are a pro-abortion party and anybody who acts on
behalf of the party is required to abide by the their official position. They
will argue that it only applies in certain cases, but they have,in fact, taken
the first step down the slippery slope to “abortion
on demand”. This is a sad day, indeed,
for Catholic Irish republicans.
Jack Meehan, National President
Emeritus
Ancient Order of Hibernians in America
Knights of Columbus – 4th
Degree
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