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AVERIL POWER CONSIDERS herself “generally pro-life” but said abortion is not a “black and white” issue.
The Senator’s birth mother fell pregnant outside marriage in 1978 and felt she had no option but to adopt her daughter.
As an adopted person, it’s not a straightforward question for me. I’m very conscious that I was an unwanted pregnancy.
Power’s own party, Fianna Fáil, allowed a free vote last month on Clare Daly’s bill to provide for abortions in circumstances where there is a fatal foetal abnormality.
Here the Senator explains her take on abortion and why she would have supported the legislation.
Camera: Nicky Ryan/TheJournal.ie
Adoption
Last month, Power co-sponsored a bill that proposes giving adoptees greater identity rights, such as access to their birth cert. It was passed in the Seanad with cross-party support.
Children’s Minister James Reilly said he does not oppose the bill, but foresees constitutional difficulties with it.
Power disagrees with Reilly and is calling on the government to step up to the plate for the 50,000 adopted people in Ireland.
Camera: Nicky Ryan/TheJournal.ie
Power said not knowing her birth mother was a “huge source of sadness and anxiety”. She met her biological mother at the age of 29, after an 11-year search.
“Now I have two families,” she noted.
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