OIREACHTAS abortion committee member Ruth Coppinger received a death threat two weeks ago, labelling her as a ‘baby killer’ who would be “put in hell where you belong R.I.P”.
Ms. Coppinger has revealed it’s something that has become a regular occurrence for her because of her role and political stance and reveals that this particular threat isn’t even the worst of it.
The Solidarity-People Before Profit TD has related her own experience with many of her who have had to deal with the same thing. Since their first public meetings in September, Coppinger claims her colleagues have been inundated with abusive pro-choice and pro-life emails and letters.
Just last week, almost all committee members claim to have received framed pictures of Judas, and other religious figurines. The large package, which cost roughly €600 to send to the 21 committee members, blamed doctors, women receiving abortions and “the boyfriend”, and contained a quote from canon law 1,398 saying any pro-choice advocates have been excommunicated.
Pro-life TD Mattie McGrath, on the other hand, said he has received 1,231 emails and letters and sees “no intimidation” from the “extremely large” pro-life “silent majority”.
Senator Ronan Mullen supports McGrath’s argument and said that while he has received “some unpleasant emails and a lot of abuse on Twitter”, he believes some politicians are “exploiting” the letters for publicity.
Even Ms. Coppinger admitted that the majority of the hundreds of items sent to her have been “overwhelmingly constructive and punctures the myth that the debate is fraught and hostile”.
It seems that this is an issue that is going to have to be endured for the remainder of the campaign. Spare a thought for Sinn Fein TD Jonathan O’ Brien who said; “I haven’t received anything, to be honest, feel very left out”.
See More: Abortion, Ireland, Politics, Repealthe8th
