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IRELAND
Abortion debate
Arguments center on rape exception
A debate over whether Ireland should modify its laws to allow abortion in cases of rape or incest reached a new level in July when the country’s attorney general suggested such a move might increase the number of false rape claims.
Abortion is illegal in Ireland, except when the mother’s life is in danger, but about 6,000 women travel to Britain each year for abortions. The country has also received criticism from the UN Human Rights Committee and feminist groups for its strong stance, setting up a debate over whether to make changes to the law, including exceptions for rape and incest.
On July 30, Attorney General Michael McDowell said it would be difficult to make abortion laws that are able to differentiate between a false and a genuine rape claim. “I can’t imagine the circumstances now in which a foolproof law will be put in place if a woman presented at a hospital and said, ‘I have been the victim of a rape. I need an abortion’,” McDowell was quoted as saying.
He added, “One of the downsides for making provisions in that way would be that it might lead to a series of false accusations if the means of access to abortion in Ireland were to be made in an accusation of rape.”
Olive Braiden, director of the Rape Crisis Center in Dublin, said she agreed it would be impossible to prove rape within the time needed to carry out an abortion, but she criticized McDowell for focusing on the issue of false claims, for which she said there was little evidence.
Drop negative readings
Bishops say some Scripture too negative
Ireland’s Catholic bishops have proposed dropping seven New Testament texts from the lectionary for Mass because they are “liable to give contemporary society an undesirably negative impression regarding women.”
The proposal comes as part of a letter on domestic violence prepared by the bishops’ Commission for Justice and Peace and the Pastoral Commission. Bishop Laurence Ryan of Kildare and Leighlin is president of the former commission, while Bishop Willie Walsh of Killaloe is president of the latter.
The seven texts come from the writings of St. Paul and St. Peter: Colossians 3:18, 1 Peter 3:1-6, Titus 2:4-5, Ephesians 5:22-24, 1 Corinthians 11:3-16, 1 Corinthians 14:33-35, and 1 Timothy 2:11-15. Most deal with the relationship of women to their families, their husbands, and their churches.
The document said the Scriptures would best be omitted, but where used “in any context, they should be suitably commented on in the light of contemporary Church teaching.” In a joint foreword, the two chairmen of the commissions said, regarding domestic violence, “the Church, like other sectors, has had her learning curve, and there is still a long way to go.” She had also “not been without her share of responsibility [for such violence] in the past and we acknowledge this.”
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