Yesterday, a majority of Irish politicians voted against a proposal which sought to ensure that unborn babies would be given pain relief if a late-term abortion was carried out.
The evidence that babies at the gestation late-term abortions are carried out can feel pain is robust and compelling, and concerns have been raised by Irish doctors and medical practitioners regarding the absence of pain relief for babies whose lives are being ended.
The deeply disturbing thought that a baby might endure severe pain – even agony – as they are put to death, should prompt even the hardest of hearts to take action. But ideology always seems to trump compassion in the sad and cruel game politics has become.
Yesterday, Mattie McGrath TD asked for “mercy” for the helpless child being killed in a late-term abortion, urging TDs to at least spare them pain, if they refused to protect their lives.
We saw in the subsequent Dáil contributions, (see full transcript at link) that there is no mercy for the most helpless of all of our children. Instead there was a cruel and pitiless indifference to suffering, and an indignation that anyone daring to raise this issue was insulting women and doctors.
The JRD account on Twitter captured most of the contributions – both pro-life and pro-abortions, and you can watch them for yourself below. You can also see which 36 TDs voted in favour of continuing the Bill – and those who voted in favour of scrapping it. Their words, their votes, and – for the majority – their cruelty, are now on the record.
As Cllr Emer Tóibín said: “It’s hard to believe there are TDs in Dáil Éireann today who’re against abortion but voted against pain relief for unborn babies because it keeps their career path intact and their boss happy. They are the worst type of yes men/women to have in our government.”
Gript’s report from the Dáil also captured some of the reactions of the pro-life TDs who had co-sponsored Carol Nolan’s Bill.
Michael Healy-Rae TD: ‘We have laws to ensure animals are not subjected to cruelty, but not small unborn babies. I find it impossible to believe that the government would oppose this.”
Michael Healy-Rae on his fundamental opposition to abortion and calling for at least as much compassion to be shown to the unborn as for animals. pic.twitter.com/b7rlp6zcum
— JRD (@JRD0000) December 15, 2021
Carol Nolan TD: “It is my understanding that the Government has now submitted an amendment to the Bill, which will deny us the opportunity of it being read again. This is profoundly disappointing, given that it is such a reasonable Bill. I also strongly state that I hope, and it is only reasonable to expect, that the issue of pain relief will be discussed as part of the review into abortion services.
“We must take the lead here. There is a duty and onus on us to do so as legislators who are determined to insert a modicum of compassion into an already sufficiently traumatising experience. We must not abdicate our responsibility as legislators by continuing to insist the issue of pain relief for unborn children is none of our business and will never be our business. How can we maintain that fiction? How long must we wait until our laws in this area are informed by the best available evidence and science?”
Carol Nolan calling for unborn babies to be given the same legal guarantee to pain relief before they are killed as animals have before operations. pic.twitter.com/06rSeocI7C
— JRD (@JRD0000) December 15, 2021
Michael Collins TD: Law mandates that vets use pain relief, yet we are told we can’t do this for babies.
Michael Collins preemptively refutes one of the central arguments used by many opposing TDs – that politicians shouldn't be dictating to doctors – by pointing out that we were happy to do this to protect animals.
He goes on to elaborate on the need for pain relief for the unborn. pic.twitter.com/DMP05fJZ3v— JRD (@JRD0000) December 15, 2021
Peadar Tóibín TD: Rights for animals to be free from pain but not for babies – “a cruelty and lack of compassion.”
Future generations will be shocked by FF, FG, SF, Lab, Soc Dems, PbP TDs who supported legal guarantees for pain relief for animals,
but denied the same for a living baby in a late term abortion. pic.twitter.com/lflyqmAv1K
— Aontú (@AontuIE) December 15, 2021
Danny Healy-Rae: “If we are to be worth our salt we have to stand up for those who can’t defend themselves.”
Danny Healy-Rae points to how we treat unborn babies in nothing even giving pain relief before we kill them as evidence that Ireland has lost its way as a society. pic.twitter.com/aQsvtEjp2X
— JRD (@JRD0000) December 15, 2021
Mattie McGrath: described the reality in a compelling contribution.
Mattie McGrath describes some of the horrors of abortion and puts his support behind providing pain relief. pic.twitter.com/geCLI8TLnc
— JRD (@JRD0000) December 15, 2021
Sinn Féin’s weasel words – translation: we don’t give a damn about the pain babies might feel.
David Cullinane attempting to explain why Sinn Féin would be supporting the government's blocking of pain relief for unborn babies before they are killed in late term abortions.
Sinn Féin supports babies have fewer rights than animals. pic.twitter.com/9Jw4VNhQIa
— JRD (@JRD0000) December 15, 2021
We had the usual histrionics from the Soc Dems.
Holly Cairns describes a bill to mandate pain relief for babies killed in late term abortions as "deeply troubling" and "morally wrong".
Another example of the inversion of morals found on the left in Ireland. pic.twitter.com/mVXtMnUpsh
— JRD (@JRD0000) December 15, 2021
And the usual snarling lack of compassion from the rest of the left who – as one commentator observed – seem to not just support, but actually relish, abortion for “pregnant people”:
Bríd Smith describes attempts to provide pain relief to babies dying in agony during late term abortions as "oppression of women". pic.twitter.com/bI2OI6FbBE
— JRD (@JRD0000) December 15, 2021
Mick Barry describes pain relief for the unborn as a Trumpian right-wing plot and then goes on to demand easier access to abortion for "pregnant people". pic.twitter.com/Jf9AKEwKtO
— JRD (@JRD0000) December 15, 2021
How they voted?
Against the Pain Relief Bill
Tá
- Andrews, Chris.
- Barry, Mick
- Boyd Barrett, Richard
- Brady, John
- Brophy, Colm
- Browne, James
- Browne, Martin
- Bruton, Richard
- Buckley, Pat
- Burke, Colm
- Burke, Peter
- Cairns, Holly
- Carey, Joe
- Carroll MacNeill, Jennifer
- Carthy, Matt
- Chambers, Jack
- Clarke, Sorca
- Collins, Joan
- Collins, Niall
- Conway-Walsh, Rose
- Costello, Patrick
- Coveney, Simon
- Cowen, Barry
- Creed, Michael
- Cronin, Réada
- Crowe, Seán
- Cullinane, David
- Daly, Pa
- Donnelly, Paul
- Donnelly, Stephen
- Donohoe, Paschal
- Duffy, Francis Noel
- Durkan, Bernard J
- Ellis, Dessie
- Farrell, Alan
- Farrell, Mairéad
- Feighan, Frankie
- Flanagan, Charles
- Fleming, Sean
- Foley, Norma
- Gannon, Gary
- Gould, Thomas
- Griffin, Brendan
- Guirke, Johnny
- Harris, Simon
- Heydon, Martin
- Higgins, Emer
- Hourigan, Neasa
- Howlin, Brendan
- Humphreys, Heather
- Kehoe, Paul
- Kenny, Gino
- Kenny, Martin
- Kerrane, Claire
- Lahart, John
- Lawless, James
- Leddin, Brian
- Mac Lochlainn, Pádraig
- Martin, Catherine
- Matthews, Steven
- McAuliffe, Paul
- McConalogue, Charlie
- McEntee, Helen
- McGrath, Michael
- McHugh, Joe
- Mitchell, Denise
- Munster, Imelda
- Murphy, Catherine
- Murphy, Paul
- Mythen, Johnny
- Nash, Ged
- Naughton, Hildegarde
- Noonan, Malcolm
- O’Brien, Darragh
- O’Brien, Joe
- O’Callaghan, Cian
- O’Callaghan, Jim
- O’Connor, James
- O’Donnell, Kieran
- O’Donovan, Patrick
- O’Dowd, Fergus
- O’Gorman, Roderic
- O’Reilly, Louise
- O’Rourke, Darren
- O’Sullivan, Christopher
- Ó Broin, Eoin
- Ó Cathasaigh, Marc
- Ó Laoghaire, Donnchadh
- Ó Murchú, Ruairí
- Ó Ríordáin, Aodhán
- Ó Snodaigh, Aengus
- Pringle, Thomas
- Quinlivan, Maurice
- Rabbitte, Anne
- Richmond, Neale
- Ryan, Patricia
- Shortall, Róisín
- Smith, Bríd
- Smith, Duncan
- Smyth, Ossian
- Stanley, Brian
- Stanton, David
- Troy, Robert
- Tully, Pauline
- Varadkar, Leo
- Ward, Mark
- Whitmore, Jennifer
TOTAL: 107 VOTES
For the Pain Relief Bill
Níl
- Berry, Cathal
- Butler, Mary
- Cahill, Jackie
- Calleary, Dara
- Canney, Seán
- Cannon, Ciarán
- Collins, Michael
- Crowe, Cathal
- Devlin, Cormac
- Dillon, Alan
- Fitzmaurice, Michael
- Fitzpatrick, Peter
- Grealish, Noel
- Harkin, Marian
- Haughey, Seán
- Healy-Rae, Danny
- Healy-Rae, Michael
- Lowry, Michael
- MacSharry, Marc
- McGrath, Mattie
- McGuinness, John
- Moynihan, Aindrias
- Murnane O’Connor, Jennifer
- Murphy, Verona
- Naughten, Denis
- Nolan, Carol
- O’Dea, Willie
- O’Donoghue, Richard
- O’Sullivan, Pádraig
- Ó Cuív, Éamon
- Phelan, John Paul
- Ring, Michael
- Shanahan, Matt
- Smith, Brendan
- Smyth, Niamh
- Tóibín, Peadar
TOTAL: 36 VOTES
