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A LABOUR PARTY councillor has said he is resigning from the party over its stance on abortion.
Galway councillor Shaun Cunniffe said he believes the upcoming legislation on the X Case judgment will open the doors to “social abortion” and that the Oireachtas hearings on the issue were “undemocratic”.
The businessman also said he believes that some women will take advantage of the new laws to procure abortions.
“It’s the intellectual dishonesty with which all the information given in the hearings was dealt with,” he told TheJournal.ie. “The decision [on what would be contained in the legislation] was clearly made before the hearings and I just think that’s so undemocratic.”
“Having an abortion is a huge thing,” he said. “The primary purpose of this legislation is to introduce social abortion. It sits so uneasily with me and i just said no, I cannot support it.”
Cunniffe, who sits on Galway County Council, described the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill as a ‘Trojan horse’.
“It seems good. It seems like it’s solving problems and all these soundbites, but when you look at it, the defining feature, which is whether someone feels suicidal, can’t be objectively measured,” said Cunniffe.
The way this legislation is drafted, someone can just say it [that they are suicidal] and it gives them the legal right to abortion.
The figures are low, but once there is a piece of legislation where you can go in and say you’re suicidal and procure an abortion, it will be like the UK or California, it mushrooms. I think people will take advantage of it.
The councillor said when he joined Labour he had seen abortion as “a road I didn’t want to walk down,” describing it as a very contentious issue.
“The right of children aren’t vindicated by the legislation,” he said. “We should have a whole system of supports and first world care for women, but with the recognition that once life begins, once you have a human being growing, it does have rights, and they have to be vindicated in legislation.”
The whole pendulum has swung entirely the wrong way.
Cunniffe also called for a free vote for TDs and Senators when the bill comes before the Oireachtas. He is believed to be the first Labour elected representative who has left the party over the issue. Fine Gael TDs Brian Walsh and Peter Mathews have already indicated they will vote against the coalition government on the bill, as well as Senator Fidelma Healy-Eames.
Cunniffe, who says he has always been anti-abortion, was co-opted as a councillor in 2011 to replace Labour party chairperson Colm Keaveney upon his election to the Dáil.
The councillor said he has written to Labour to inform the party of his decision. He does not yet know if he will join another political party. “Where does a pro-life person go?” he said.
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Great article, great respect for this man, fantastic doctor. Will definitely be reading his book!
Amazing Doctor –
A decent and honorable man. Stood as a rock of common sense against waves of bile. I suppose the trolls will be out for another nibble.
Amazing Doctor –
Another Doctor who thinks he is God.
@Liam Mernagh: A Doctor who doesnt let religion get in the way of medical practice more like.
@Liam Mernagh: Ok? Scientific evidence of your God in references please?
@Martin O’Reilly: Do you know how to make a motor car?
@Alan Dillon: Our civilisation in the main and our laws in general are based on the Christian concepts and ethos but I can understand that egotistical people might not want to bow the knee to a superior being.
@Liam Mernagh: Yes as a mechanical engineer, methinks I’d be up for it!
@Liam Mernagh: Now for your references, without further ado!
@Martin O’Reilly: good, then you will understand that if a car has to be designed and parts designed and manufactured and then assembled in the correct fashion and adjusted a nd commissioned, you should be able to see how facile it is to think the universe happened by accident. Just look around yourself any day at the beautiful world and the seasons and say to yourself “What an accident “
@Martin O’Reilly: when you get up in the morning take a look; open your eyes and take a good look at the beautiful world around you and the sho me your evidence for the accident.
Oh you’ve been attending him so – have you
@Liam Mernagh: please stop rolling along with you pretentious pious claptrap. I am beginning to realise here that is hard to talk , chat to the converted. All I have questioned on is scientific DNA of your God or any of his so called fellow travelers dna being detected by Isotopic tests etc. Once and for all answer the question being put to you!
@Martin O’Reilly: you show me your evidence to the contrary and desist from being abusive. If you feel that you have all the answers then that’s fine for you but it certainly takes a hell of an ego.
The North West of Ireland is in the debt of Peter Boylan, he came to Leitrim and Donegal and Longford and stood for what he believed in, that meant a lot to campaigners here and we will never forget what he did and the abuse he took from anti choice people, you should hear how they hissed whenever Savita was mentioned. That woman died, no matter how they felt she died, that is the most disrespectful way to treat someone who had their young life cut short.
It’s funny how the Gov couldn’t find the money for free contraception but can fund abortion. It’s a bit backwards
@Joe Mc: Only if you think, like many of the people opposed to repealing the 8th, that abortion is in some way to be invoked solely as a means of contraception. It’s really quite a lazy position to take, but is generally in keeping with the church’s general distrust of women.
A courageous gentleman who put the needs of his patients first. Thankfully religious contamination of medicine is ending
Any word from the Vatican yet on the Hospital site at least with Peter you get the Facts
Going to buy the book
Great man! Not forgetting Dr. Noel Browne either!
Great respect for Peter Boylan
have your say