FOUR FAMILIES FROM Ireland are set to travel to the Geneva to try and end the use of the term “incompatible with life”.

The trip is being organised by pro-life organisation ‘Every Life Counts’.

The families will fly to Switzerland alongside others from Northern Ireland, Spain, France, Canada and Switzerland.

Incompatible with life 

All of the families involved in the trip have had children whose condition was described as “incompatible with life”.

In a statement today the ‘Every Life Counts’ group claim that the term is as offensive as the words “retard” or “cretin”.

The group will be travelling to Geneva for 11 March when the UN Human Rights Committee will be holding a dialogue with the Special Rapporteur – an “independent expert appointed by the Human Rights Council to examine and report back on… a specific human rights theme”.

In this instance the Special Rapporteur will be representing the rights of persons with disabilities.

The group are set to attend the Geneva Declaration on Perinatal Care. This group, which is not affiliated with the United Nations, is part of an initiative to have the term “incompatible with life” removed from medical use.

Legislative action 

Earlier this month Socialist Party TD, Clare Daly, saw her Bill that proposed legislation that would allow for terminations for medical reasons (TFMR) voted down in the Dáil.

The Bill was opposed by the government and defeated by 101 votes to 27. Speaking at the time, Deputy Daly said that the idea the legislation would bring about “walk in, walk out” abortions were “an insult to women and doctors”.

Read: “Please don’t force a woman to grow a baby that is going to die”

Also: ‘People think I’m the devil for having an abortion, but it’s the only option that’s right for me’