Irish Labour party would overhaul pro-life constitution

The Labour Party of the Republic of Ireland has announced there will be an overhaul of the country’s constitution, including its protection for the unborn and marriage, should they form the next government, reports Hilary White, LifeSiteNews.com.

In his keynote address to his party conference, Eamon Gilmore announced that “it is time for a fundamental review of the constitution.”

Gilmore said that while the existing constitution has served the country well, it “is a document written in the 1930s for the 1930s” and in 1930s Irish society “one Church was considered to have a special position and women were considered to be second-class citizens.”

“And if we are to truly learn from the experience of the last 10 years, then we need to look again, in a considered way, at the fundamental rules that bind us together.”

Gilmore’s suggested “reforms” would include revisiting the constitution’s recognition of God, property rights and the definition of the family and could open the door to “gay marriage.”

As a matter of policy, the left-leaning Labour Party supports legalized abortion in cases of “a risk to the life or health of the mother” and for eugenic purposes in cases where the child might be stillborn.

It is questionable whether the Labour Party’s intended review of the constitution will gain them the support of the electorate, however. This month, the group Pro-Life Campaign released the results of a survey of 950 people over 18, asking whether they would support changes to the constitution’s pro-life provisions.

70 per cent responded that they support constitutional protection for the unborn; 13 per cent opposed it and 16 per cent said they don’t know or have no opinion.

Although the constitution of Ireland was adopted formally in 1937, its pro-life provisions forbidding abortion were inserted by the will of a general referendum in 1983. The abortion prohibition, moreover, does allow abortion in cases where the mother’s life is threatened; after a series of court cases this was determined to include when the mother declares she is suicidal.

The constitution’s recognition by name of religions other than Catholicism, including Judaism, was removed in 1973 in a vote that also abolished the wording granting the “special position” of the Catholic Church. The document continues to acknowledge the existence of God, however, such as in the preamble, the oath sworn by the President and in Article 44, that includes the statement, “The State acknowledges that the homage of public worship is due to Almighty God. It shall hold His Name in reverence, and shall respect and honour religion.”

Another provision from the original 1930s constitution that has been removed is the prohibition against divorce. However, article 41.1.1 recognizes the family as “the natural primary and fundamental unit group of Society, and as a moral institution possessing inalienable and imprescriptible rights, antecedent and superior to all positive law” and guarantees its protection by the state. This has angered many anti-family campaigners, including the homosexualist lobby, who have worked to include recognition of cohabiting partners.

Article 41.3.1 states, “The state pledges itself to guard with special care the institution of marriage, on which the Family is founded.”

Despite Gilmore’s implication that the constitution has not been reviewed since the 1930s, various reviews have been conducted by the government since the 1960s, including in 1966, 1972, 1983, 1988, 1994 and 1995. Three All-Party Oireachtas Committees on the Constitution have been set up, the first in 1996, and have produced several reports.

According to Irish law, changes to the constitution must be ratified by referendum, a provision that infuriated European Union leaders when the country rejected ratification of the Lisbon Treaty in 2008.

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TAGS: Ireland Labour Party pro-life constitution abortion prohibition homosexualist lobby Irish law

[04/23/2010]

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