MORE than 240 Irish art, music and literature stars have launched a campaign to change Ireland’s strict laws on abortion.
Film star Cillian Murphy, author John Banville and filmmaker Jim Sheridan are among those who have leant their support to the campaign, which was launched yesterday.
They are calling for a change to the Eighth Amendment of the Irish constitution, which gives equal weight to the life of a mother and a foetus, even at the earliest stages of pregnancy.
The Amendment, enacted in 1983, has proven controversial and was readdressed to some extent with the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act of 2013.
In this case, the Government passed legislation to allow a termination in extreme circumstances.
The current law permits Irish medical practitioners to carry out an abortion where continuing with the pregnancy would result in the mother’s death, or if she is suicidal.
But now, further action is being taken in the pro-choice camp with this new campaign.
A statement released by the stars said that the 1983 Amendment has “prevented our doctors and our legislators from providing proper care to women in Ireland”.
Britain is currently the number one “abortion tourism” destination for crisis pregnancies in Ireland.
Over the past nine years, 34,602 women gave Irish addresses at abortion clinics in England and Wales – an average of more than 3,800 a year or 10 a day.
Last year alone, 3,735 women with Irish addresses registered at British abortion clinics.
New figures also reveal a further 1,500 women have travelled from Ireland to the Netherlands over the past seven years, with Spain, Sweden, Finland and the US other regularly used destinations.
Pro-choice groups have campaigned heavily in the past for a change to prevent Irish women being forced to leave their home country for an abortion.
Campaigners are expected to up the ante with their pro-choice agenda as the countdown to the February 2016 general elections in Ireland begins.
“The eighth amendment undermines the status of the Irish constitution," a statement from the leading Irish figures said. "It is a key source of Ireland’s failure to reach international human rights standards and of the state’s failure to meet its obligations to vindicate women’s human rights.
“We, the undersigned artists, call for the repeal of the eighth amendment to the Irish constitution and for action by our elected legislators to provide women in Ireland with modern reproductive health services in line with best medical practice and international human rights norms.”
See More: Abortion, Featured, Repeal The Eighth
