A midlands GP registrar, based at the Midland Regional Hospital, says he fully supports a Yes vote this May 25.
Robert McGarrigle a GP registrar currently in obstetrics and gynaecology in the Midland Regional Hospital, Mullingar said: “I believe Irish women deserve better; I fully support this campaign by doctors for a Yes vote on May 25th – it’s time to take healthcare out of the courts and return it to doctors and their patients where it belongs”
Over 3,200 women travelled from Ireland in 2016 to access abortion care abroad and a further estimated 1,500 took abortion pills at home without medical supervision or support. In Westmeath, 38 women travelled in 2016 and many more have done so since. A GP risks prosecution and losing their medical license if they offer care to a woman diagnosed with a fatal foetal anomaly, a woman pregnant as a result of rape or a woman in a crisis pregnancy.
If the amendment is repealed, it will allow for the Irish government to legislate on abortion as they see fit, most likely up to 12 weeks. The two biggest parties in the country, Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil are allowing members to take a free position on the issue while Sinn Fein and Labour are officially backing a Yes vote.
Speaking at the Irish Bishops Conference in Maynooth yesterday, Bishop of Kerry Ray Browne, said: "The current Referendum campaign is causing great hurt and distress to many, many people. It involves an issue that is sensitive in the extreme. In all we say and do let us ever seek to speak and act gently, kindly and sensitively. It is very necessary that we all reflect deeply on “the right to life of an innocent child growing in its mother’s womb”. In this Pastoral Message I speak of two subjects: the fundamental right to life of the unborn child and the intention of our legislators at this time. The only conclusion that I personally can draw is: if Article 40.3.3 is removed from the Constitution, then within a short few years the position regarding abortion in Ireland will likely be similar to that of Britain."
According to Bishop Browne,'' In Britain, where in 1968 abortion was introduced for ‘extreme cases’ only, each year in the region of 190,000 abortions are carried out, the equivalent of one in five of all pregnancies. The choice now facing the people of Ireland is stark. "
Meanwhile, the ‘Get Together For Yes’ regional conversations tour will arrive in Maynooth, tomorrow.
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