CERVICAL CANCER AND ABORTION: BRUTAL INJUSTICE OR MURDERS?

"THERE IS SOMETHING ROTTEN ABOUT THE STATE OF IRELAND!"

J'ACCUSE

Seventeen Irish women have now died as a result of the cervical cancer scandal. Many more women may yet die. The Government has responded to the scandal by setting up a scoping inquiry (to find out what happened), by giving free medical cards, by providing access to some experimental drugs and by subsidizing a certain amount of travel. This represents a very small, not to say contemptible, response to the preventable deaths of seventeen otherwise perfectly healthy women, many of them mothers with young families. When that many young women die, the legal and lawful response is not to set up scoping inquiries and to hide behind waffle, free medical cards and weasel words. In such circumstances, the appropriate and correct constitutional response is for the Government to request the Acting Commissioner of An Garda Siochána to investigate the deaths, and the probable causes of the deaths, with a view to preparing and presenting a file for appropriate action to the Director of Public Prosecutions. A starting point for any investigation by An Garda Siochána might be the possibility, indeed the probability, that the women, whose death is under consideration, died as a result of murder, attempted murder or conspiracy to murder! This statement is by no means too strong because it is a legal truism that murder can be the result either of acts of commission or acts of omission. While the Government did not do or commit itself to doing very much in this matter, it certainly omitted to do just about everything!

The Government, especially Simon Harris and Leo Varadkar, the two Ministers for Health at all relevant times, do not come to this matter with, in what can in any sense be described as "clean hands"! The two Ministers in question devoted extraordinary time and ingenuity to devising an unconstitutional, illegal and unlawful strategy aimed at imposing abortion upon Ireland. This left them with no time and little energy to attend to the normal constitutional functions and statutory obligations incumbent upon a Minister for Health. Harris and Varadkar proved incapable, unwilling or unable, jointly, severally and successfully to establish, set up or implement the relatively routine screening system necessary to protect Irish women from illness and from death resulting from cervical cancer. In fact, Harris and Vareadkar did even worse that that. Instead of putting in place an effective cervical cancer screening system. they oversaw the establishment of a defective and unreliable screening system. The best that could be said in favor of their performance is that a car with defective brakes is, in some way, a sound proposition or that it is a bright and clever idea to buy a whole string of defective life-jackets! Whether they care to admit it or not, it was Harris and Varadkar who are legally responsible for having decided to send samples for testing to the US and UK for examination? Although Minister for Health for many years, Harris had no idea (as of yesterday) whether any Irish laboratories had the capacity to carry out the testing in Ireland! It is a medical, scientific and very sad statistical fact that many Irish women have died and many more Irish women may die as a result of Harris and Varadkar's criminal negligence!

The deaths of seventeen Irish women are seventeen deaths too many! On 30 January 1972, the British Parachute Regiment shot dead 14 unarmed civilians on the Bogside in Derry. The then Irish Minister for External Affairs, Dr Patrick Hillery, immediately flew to address the United Nations Security Council in New York to protest at the murderous outrage and carnage. However, we have not seen any member of the Government hop on a plane to the United States, as is their wont every Saint Patrick's Day, laden down with shamrock and crystal, to thank President Trump, the Congress and the laboratories of California for the inglorious part which American industry and science played in killing so many Irish women! Nor indeed has the Attorney General begun drafting the documents and legal proceedings initiating legal proceedings on behalf of the Irish State against the American laboratories involved demanding seek very substantial financial compensation for the women and their families! Instead, the Government has been involved in the most pathetic efforts to save its own skin! Is the pathetic reaction of Harris and Varadkar, indeed the pathetic reaction of the entire Government, attributable to the fact that all of the victims of this scandal are women, and that many of them mothers! Minister Harris and Minister Varadkar took the deliberate and calculated decision to focus their energies on amending the Constitution of Ireland (by fair means or foul) in order to advance their wish to abort Irish babies. In taking this decision, the Ministers deliberately, coldly and calculatingly chose to ignore and by-pass all their constitutional obligations and statutory functions as Ministers for Health. As a result, a great many Irish women have needlessly died, husbands have been left without their wives, partners without their loved ones and children without their mothers! Minister Harris and Minister Varadkar should and must be made to answer before Ireland's Criminal Courts both for what they did and what they did not do.

Much nonsense has been spoken about responsibility for the cervical cancer scandal. Much of this rubbish has emanated from Harris and Varadkar, motivated by the desire to save their own necks! Tony O'Brien, the Director-General of the HSE, has fallen on his sword and resigned. He did himself few favors by his demeanor and the disclosure of the HSE's own internal communications finished him off. However, Tony O'Brien was and is a scapegoat! A Minister of the Government is always vicariously responsible for the acts of his servants, including their negligence. Article 28.4.1 and Article 28.4. 2 of the Constitution make it crystal clear that the Government and the Ministers of the Government (not junior or even senior Civil Servants) are responsible for the management of Government Departments, including any Agencies which fall under the aegis of Government Departments! Harris and Varadkar insist that they were not shown any of the relevant internal communications. This allows for only two possible explanations (1) Harris and Varadkar were totally incompetent and incapable of running the Department of Health; or (2) they are not telling the truth and they were criminally negligent in discharging their responsibilities to Irish women!

Instead of attending to their duties and obligations to provide effective cervical cancer screening for women, Harris and Varadkar devoted their energies to securing the repeal of the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution, including the new constitutional and human right created by the Irish people in 1983 and inserted into the Constitution of Ireland, namely the equal protection of right to life of the unborn and the right to life of the mother. Harris and Varadkar wish to replace this constitutional and human right with licence to abort unborn babies up to the twelfth week of pregnancy and, in certain highly perverse circumstances, right up to the baby's birth. Harris and Varadkar's scheming threatens the life of the unborn baby. It also threatens mothers, families, society and every citizen of the Irish State. To achieve their sinister purpose, Harris and Varadkar were and are prepared to violate the most basic and fundamental principles and provisions of the Constitution of Ireland and of Irish Law. They are also prepared to violate and irreparably to damage Ireland's traditional reputation for decency, charity, generosity and hospitality. Harris, Varadkar and the entire Government are deliberately prepared to depart from and abandon every Irish moral, ethical and religious value.

With the assistance of an unprincipled PR company and in breach of all the Electoral Acts, Harris and Varadkar established the spurious "Citizen's Assembly" which provided doubtful and downright false information about abortion. This information was heavily relied upon by the Joint Oireachtas Committee, by Dáil Eireann and by Seánad Eireann in their deliberations and their decisions. The effect of this false "untested and unverifiable" information cannot be overestimated. Knowledge, virtue and truth are sources of light and power. But "deliberate disinformation and falsehood are equally sources of occult power and darkness!"The " foreign expert presentations" were cited, relied upon and given an unwarranted status and standing by far too many people! They played a truly perverse and unconstitutional role in supporting the Government decision. It is difficult to escape the conclusion that the foreign experts never undertook an objective information exercise, but were committed from the outset to obtaining the repeal of the Eighth Amendment. Having achieved that objective, the "foreign experts" wished to impose unlimited and uncontrolled abortion upon Ireland. The Constitution of Ireland provides only for one Oireachtas, whose members are empowered to propose, debate, legislate, enact and amend the Laws of Ireland. This constitutional provision is even more relevant in relation to the amendment of the Constitution. The Constitution of Ireland cannot countenance or tolerate the constitutional and legal powers granted to the Oireachtas and other constitutional Organs of Government being usurped by the Citizen's Assembly.

The Citizens' Assembly adopted a covert "modus operandi", engaging in a strategic and tactical campaign of disinformation on many matters of a political, legal and ideological nature. They deliberately conspired to mislead the Government and the Parliament of Ireland in their efforts at deiding what they should do in relation to the Eighth Amendment. The Citizens' Assembly was at all times, in its composition and in all its activities, unconstitutional, illegal and unlawful. Its subversive actions were unconstitutional, but they also amounted to a very serious breach of Ireland's Criminal Law. The false, sinister and malicious influence which the Citizen's Assembly exercised on the Oireachtas Joint Committee, on the debates in Dáil Eireann and Seánad Eireann and on the ultimate Government decision render the Government decision to hold a referendum on 25th May unconstitutional ab initio. This means that the Government decision to hold a referendum should be declared null and void and should not proceed.

CANNOT DESTROY A CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT OR A HUMAN RIGHT

The Government of Ireland or the Courts of Ireland may not delete a form of words or language from the Constitution, where the effect of such a deletion would be to remove the protection afforded by a constitutional right or a human right. This rule is made much stronger when the rights in question relate to the life of a child, born or unborn! No Irish Government and no Irish Court has ever sought to extinguish any constitutional or human right which protects the life of a child, born or unborn, since the Constitution of Ireland was adopted and enacted by the People of Ireland on 1st July 1937 and entered into force on 28 December 1937. The Constitution of Ireland was adopted and enacted by the Irish people for themselves in the full exercise of their sovereign power in "In the name of the Most Holy Trinity". Since the Constitution of Ireland entered into force on 28 December 1937, the Government of Ireland, the Courts, Oireachtas Eireann and the Irish people of Ireland have always respected the special standing and privileged status accorded and granted to constitutional rights and to human rights. All of the aforesaid have always held these rights, and contingent implied and related personal rights in the highest regard, respect and esteem . The Irish people, mindful of the sacrifice and suffering which they endured throughout their long history have always refused with determination and steadfastness to abolish any constitutional right, human right or implied personal right of whatever nature. This resolve has always been greatest where the constitutional, human or implied personal rights involved have concerned the life of children, any children, whether born or unborn!

UNCONSTITUTIONAL LEGISLATION

The Government held a parliamentary debate on the repeal of the Eighth Amendment. During that the debate, although the Eighth Amendment was in force, the Government introduced legislation before parliament "illustrating" what they would do if the Eighth Amendment were repealed. The Government legislation contravened the Constitution of Ireland, including the Eighth Amendment. The Government acted unconstitutionally, illegally and unlawfully. Knowing this to be the case, the Government nevertheless deliberately to go ahead in violation of the Constitution!

THE SUPREME COURT JUDGMENT

XXX On 2nd March 2018, hearing an appeal by the State from a decision by Humphries J in the High Court, the Supreme Court expressed itself as to what constitutional rights unborn children might have in the event of the Eighth Amendment being repealed. As a referendum on the Eighth Amendment appeared imminent, the Supreme Court's decision to pronounce itself on these issues was unusual. However, it is not clear whether the Supreme Court's judgement in this case, which addressed the rights of asylum-seekers, is especially relevant when it comes to defining the constitutional rights of Irish citizens.

THE REFERENDUM COMMISSION

The whole country is subjected to the opinions of the avowedly impartial and neutral "Referendum Commission" in the run-up to the 25th May referendum. The Commission states several times a day on radio and television that the object and purpose of the referendum is "to regulate the termination of pregnancy in Ireland". "Termination" is a word which might appropriately be used in speaking about a bus or a train journey, as in, for example, "This bus terminates at O'Connell Street" or "This train terminates at Tralee". However to use the word "termination" in relation to abortion, i.e. "in relation to the killing and the destruction of unborn life" is totally inappropriate and completely unacceptable. The same point can be made about the Commission's use of "to regulate", when in fact the Commission actually means "to abort, to kill or to murder". The language chosen and used by the Referendum Commission deliberately breaches the law and violates the Constitution of Ireland, yet it is broadcast unopposed and without contradiction on Irish radio and Irish television into every home in Ireland several times a day. The Referendum Commission also takes out advertisement in newspapers and spends public money printing and distributing this totally partial and unconstitutional material. The Referendum Commission's language, message and material relentlessly promotes abortion or, at the very least, dilutes and diminishes the reasons for opposing abortion. As such it violates the many prohibitions contained in Irish Criminal Law relating to abortion, the procurement of abortion, the promotion of abortion, as well as incitement to procure abortion and conspiracy to procure abortion. These indictable offences are punishable by 14 years imprisonment.

Not only does the behavior of the Referendum Commission violate the Constitution and the Criminal Law on the most sustained basis, but they clearly have no idea of what is at stake in the referendum. The "Yes" side is seeking to secure the abortion, killing and destruction of perfectly healthy babies, or sometimes not so healthy babies, sleeping in their mother's wombs. The "No" side is seeking to prevent a carnage, a veritable Holocaust of Irish children, ever taking place. The "No" side know full well that if the killing of unborn children begins, it will go on for ever!

The Irish people are not being asked to sit in judgment on the highly offensive, inhuman and amoral arguments put together by a motley collection of constitutional, and far from constitutional, politicians imbued with and driven by evil, sinister and truly repulsive motivations. The Irish people are being asked to decide whether they believe, in their hearts, minds and souls, that any human being ever has the right to destroy or take the life of another human being, especially when that other human being is a defenseless, innocent, unborn baby!

GOVERNMENT DID NOT ACT AS "A COLLECTIVE AUTHORITY"

Article 28.4.1. of the Constitution of Ireland provides that the Government shall be collectively responsible to the Dáil. Article 28.4.2 of the Constitution stipulates that the Government shall act as a "collective authority". These two provisions (taken together) mean that only the decisions of the Government which are taken unanimously or collectively by the whole Government are constitutionally binding, are of legal effect and may be enforced before the Courts.

Did the Government act as a "collective authority" in reaching its decision to hold a referendum to repeal the Eighth Amendment on 25th May. The Government's decision on that occasion was accompanied by a pledge that, in the event of the Eighth Amendment being repealed, the Government would introduce legislation in the Oireachtas to legalize unrestricted abortion during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy and, by some perverse argumentation, in some circumstances even right up to the baby's birth?

Tánaiste Simon Coveney was interviewed by Seán O'Rourke on RTE radio on the morning after the Government decision (described above). Simon Coveney and Seán O'Rourke both said that they disliked the Government decision because each of them had "three beautiful daughters"! Watching and listening to Simon Coveney's interview, I do not believe that the Tánaiste participated in or was ad idem with the Government decision. In other words, when deciding to hold a referendum to repeal the Eighth Amendment on 25th May, the Government did not act as a "collective authority" as required by Article 28.4.1 and Article 28.4.2 of the Constitution of Ireland. The decision to hold a referendum on 25th May 2018 should therefore be declared unconstitutional, invalid and null and void!

CONSTITUTIONALITY OF GOVERNMENT OF IRELAND

Does the composition of the Government conform with the provisions set out in the Constitution of Ireland? A swift glance at the Government benches suggests that at least three of the people currently occupying ministerial chairs are not entitled to do so in accordance with the Constitution of Ireland. If such is indeed the case, then all past, present or pending decisions of the Government are quashed, and rendered null and void. The Government itself, for its part, must be disbanded and dissolved.

TERRORISTS IN PARLIAMENT!

Ever since the blasphemous "Good Friday Agreement", the Irish Parliament (Lower and Upper Houses) has been awash with unemployed murderers and terrorists looking for something to do to while away the idle hours! Despite what Gerry Adams says, the life of the peaceful urban or rural TD lacks the thrills or the psychopathic attractions (murder, violence, piracy, skulduggery, extortion) of the average assignment in an IRA active service unit. Some "moonlighting" can still be done and there a little paid intimidation work can still be found at week-ends; but, in general, it is no longer "Boom, Boom, Boom" time for the professional terrorist! Some of the most despicable former "tigers" have even been reduced to waffling about "peace" "love" and "compassion". Yet, even their own mothers wouldn't trust them! And they certainly trust nobody, not even the dead Guards whom they shot in the back and the dead Prison Officers whom they shot through the neck! However, by some perverted twist of logic, terrorists hold what are frequently and very euphemistically described as "progressive and liberal views" on abortion! Terrorists see abortion as enabling them to move on from the macro-terrorism which they practiced successfully for so many years by murdering countless adults. Abortion offers terrorists the chance to convert and retrain as micro-terrorists and to fully enjoy the unique satisfaction they derive from waging war against and murdering the innocent, the defenseless and the unborn! With this background and motivation, it is unsurprising to learn that the murderers and terrorists currently occupying so many seats in the Irish Parliament voted solidly, time and again, with the Government in support of abortion. The support, which the Government consistently sought and received from murderers and terrorists, enabled the Government to rush its abortion plans so quickly through the Irish Parliament and to schedule a referendum for the otherwise impossibly early date of 25th May. It is also the reason why the murderers and terrorists have not brought down the Government over the cervical cancer scandal. To do so might have thwarted their chances of seeing the referendum being held. Simon Harris and Leo Varadkar bear parliamentary and ministerial responsibility for the mess, but Mary Lou Mac Donald has directed all of her considerable venom and anger against Tony O'Brien, the Director-General of the HSE and a Civil Servant!

TAX-SCAM

If abortion is introduced in Ireland, abortions will be carried out in Irish hospitals by Irish doctors, nurses and ancillary staff. Abortions will also be carried out by foreign doctors, nurses and ancillary staff, who are registered and licensed to practice in Irish hospitals. All doctors, nurses and ancillary staff (whether Irish or foreign) will use medical and pharmaceutical equipment, instruments and drugs manufactured sold to Irish hospitals by US and multinational pharmaceutical corporations. These pharmaceutical corporations are attracted to Ireland not from any concern for the health or well-being of the Irish people, but because of the huge profits they make and derive from Ireland's exceedingly low 12.5% corporation tax-rate and the tax-holidays granted them by successive Irish Governments. As a result, not only will Irish babies be aborted in their mother's wombs, but the Irish tax-payer will end up subsidizing the carnage by offering tax-relief and amoral profits to the "killer" US and multinational pharmaceutical corporations. Needless to say, this extremely lucrative process will not result in or generate corruption in any shape or form!

THE CONSTITUTION OF IRELAND PROHIBITS ABORTION!

Quite apart from the Eighth Amendment, and indeed long before it, the Constitution of Ireland prohibited abortion! The People of Ireland gave, adopted and enacted for themselves a new constitution "the Constitution of Ireland", by plebiscite on 1st July 1937, "In the name of the Most Holy Trinity". This Constitution came into force and effect on 28 December 1937 and those words "In the name of the Most Holy Trinity" are key words to understanding the constitutional, political and legal power contained and imbued throughout the Constitution of Ireland. They allow People, Government, Legislature, Judiciary and the World to unlock and partake of the affirmative ethical, equitable and moral values of Justice, Charity and Truth which are to be seen, observed and admired in the Life, Passion and Suffering of Our Lord Jesus Christ and which are the very soul and essence of the Christian Message, the Christian Faith and the Constitution of Ireland! They form the corner-stone, the legal bed-rock, the architectural edifice upon which rest the Constitution of Ireland and the Laws of Ireland. They contain and express an enduring, unshakable and eternal condemnation of and prohibition of abortion. They also condemn, with equal vehemence and virulence, murder in general and the unwarranted and unlawful taking of the life of another human being!

Apart from the general principles referred to above, the words "In the name of the Most Holy Trinity" not only empower the Constitution of Ireland as a whole, but they also specifically prohibit abortion and extreme acts and crimes of violence. By using the words "In the name of the Most Holy Trinity", the People of Ireland explicitly stated that they chose, accepted and were willing to give effect and to implement through the Constitution of Ireland and the Laws of Ireland the obligations, principles and provisions which are set out in God's Ten Commandments and which the Most Holy Trinity (that is to say God) handed down to Moses on Mount Sinai. The Sixth Commandment explicitly states: "Thou shall not kill!" The prohibition on abortion contained in the Constitution of Ireland, directly deriving and arising from the words "In the name of the Most Holy Trinity", is both unequivocal and absolute. The prohibition on abortion is placed at the start of the Constitution and therefore extends to the Constitution in its entirety.

Without the words "In the name of the Most Holy Trinity", the Constitution of Ireland would be greatly diminished and would lose its "raison d'etre". As already stated, the words "In the name of the Most Holy Trinity" are the veritable corner-stone of the Constitution. Without these words, Ireland would be left without any legal bed-rock or fundamental law. As a result Ireland and the Irish State would be greatly weakened. Indeed, Ireland might be pressured and pressed to the point of losing its very sovereignty, independence and existence. The Irish State might fall apart, either slowly or swiftly. The spirit and the soul of Ireland might disintegrate, collapse, crumble and come to dust. Nobody who loves Ireland or who is loyal to the Irish State would ever tamper or interfere with the words "In the name of the Most Holy Trinity". Anyone taking a step or steps in that direction would be acting without any doubt whatever in a fashion inimical to and contrary to Ireland's interests, to those of the Irish people and of the Irish State. In such circumstances, the relevant law becomes: "The Safety of the State is the Supreme Law".

Apart from shaping the legal architecture of the Constitution of Ireland and of the Irish State, the words "In the name of the Most Holy Trinity" play a distinctive role in the selection and establishment of the moral and spiritual values which enlighten Ireland and the Irish State. The words "In the name of the Most Holy Trinity" establish clearly, and without fear of contradiction, the Values, the Morals, the Ethics and the Truths, which the servants of Ireland must use, rely upon and practice as they loyally and faithfully endeavor to enact, invoke and implement the sacred principles and trusted and trustful provisions contained in, set out and pronounced in the Constitution of Ireland. The simplest way to understand and grasp what is involved in beseeching, invoking and implementing the words "In the name of the Most Holy Trinity" is by reading, studying, praying or reciting the "The Nicene Creed" (see below):

" We believe in one God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, begotten from the Father before all ages, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made; of the same essence as the Father. Through him all things were made. For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven; he became incarnate by the Holy Spirit and the virgin Mary, and was made human. He was crucified for us under Pilate; he suffered and was buried. The third day he rose again, according to the Scriptures. He ascended to heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again with glory to judge the living and the dead. His kingdom will never end. And we believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life. He proceeds from the Father and the Son, and with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified. He spoke through the prophets.We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic church. We affirm one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. We look forward to the resurrection of the dead, and to life in the world to come. Amen."

The prohibition on abortion extends to the Constitution of Ireland in its entirety. Not only is abortion unconstitutional and illegal in Ireland, it is also unconstitutional and illegal in every facet and in every aspect of life in Ireland. Nothing in the Constitution of Ireland can authorize or legalize abortion. No provision of the Constitution of Ireland may decriminalize abortion. Neither the Government of Ireland nor any other Organ established under the Constitution of Ireland may authorize, legalize or decriminalize abortion. Equally and in a similar fashion, no individual, business, profession or group of any kind whatever, including political parties, groups or movements, may authorize, legalize or decriminalize abortion.

MAY THE EIGHTH AMENDMENT BE REPEALED?

Should a majority of the Irish people vote "Yes" on 25th May, the Constitution of Ireland will still not authorize the Government of Ireland to legalize, decriminalize or introduce abortion. When the sovereign People of Ireland adopted the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution in 1983, they created a new constitutional right and a new human right, which gave equal protection to the right to life of the unborn and the right to life of the mother. The sovereign People of Ireland created that constitutional right and that human right "for all time". Constitutionally and legally, it is simply not possible to say, to contend or to imply that the sovereign power of the People of Ireland was, when they created the constitutional right and the human right in question, limited in any way by reference to any period of time. Nor can it be said, contended or implied that a constitutional right and a human right created by the People of Ireland can simply be repealed, removed or deleted, if, as soon as or when the popular mood changes. In adopting the Eight Amendment, the People of Ireland did not limit the constitutional right and the human right which they created through the use of any sunset clause or by reference to any future time. As a result, even if the words of the Eighth Amendment were to be removed or deleted from the text of the Constitution of Ireland, the actual substantive constitutional right and human right which the People of Ireland created by adopting the Eighth Amendment in 1983 would endure and subsist. Any other interpretation would constitute an egregious violation of Natural Justice.

(b) In any event, as we have seen above, the principal prohibition on abortion in the Constitution of Ireland is not contained in the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution, but in the Constitution of Ireland itself. As a result, should most people vote "Yes" on 25th May and should the text of the Eighth Amendment be deleted from the Constitution of Ireland, this will not affect in any way the principal prohibition against abortion which is contained in the Constitution of Ireland itself. That prohibition will remain and will still have full constitutional, legal and lawful effect. Regardless of how people vote on 25th May, abortion will still remain unconstitutional, illegal and unlawful in Ireland.

ABORTION IS A VERY SERIOUS CRIME

Many parliamentarians barely paused to consider what abortion involved and what punishment might be appropriate for such an act. However, abortion has always been seen as a very serious crime at Common Law and has usually been equated with murder. Abortion was criminalized long before it was codified in the Offences Against the Person Act, 1861. When it was more common for the Common Law Judges, than for Parliament, Chief Justice Sir Edward Coke (1552-1634) devised the enduring definition of murder. This definition could be applied, and was applied, to both murder and abortion. The criminal status and antecedents of abortion are well-documented. For thousand years, ever since God handed the Ten Commandments down to Moses, Judaeo-Christian civilization and many other societies have viewed abortion as one of the most serious crimes. Abortion has usually attracted and continues to attract severe criminal sanctions, on a scale comparable to murder. In my view, this was and continues to be appropriate. In reality, abortion is murder, even if a specialized form of murder, given that by definition all abortion victims are innocent unborn children! The Constitution of Ireland and the Laws of Ireland place at the heart of Irish society the heartfelt wish to give effect to God's Sixth Commandment "Thou shalt not kill!" However, the Irish people chose to go even further than that. They reinforced the existing principal prohibition on abortion contained in the Constitution of Ireland, by adding the Eight Amendment to the Constitution. By enacting the Eight Amendment to the Constitution, the Irish people reaffirmed that the Divine prohibition on killing a human being, already enshrined in the Constitution, applied with equal authority, equal gravity and equal seriousness to the killing of a child sleeping in its Mother's womb. This enhanced protection further equates abortion with murder and proves beyond doubt that abortion and murder are one and the same crime. Abortion is in fact murder, masquerading under another name and wearing another mask.

The Constitution of Ireland and the Eighth Amendment to the Constitute restate and reinforce the Christian belief that all human life is sacred and that God alone determines, and can determine, when life begins and when life should end. Jesus said "I am the Resurrection and the Life; no one comes to the Father but through me". In reciting the Nicene Creed, Christians profess: "I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Giver of Life" The Holy Spirit has decreed that human life begins at conception and must be allowed to continue unharmed until it ends at God's command and meets a natural death. At the moment and point in time when natural death occurs, Christians believe that: " Life is changed, not ended". It inescapably follows that no one has the right to contradict, contravene or defy God's will, God's Commandments or God's Laws! Certainly no one has the right from evil, sinister, wicked or selfish motives to destroy or to seek to destroy God's children by imposing abortion upon Ireland. The Government's efforts to repeal the Eight Amendment is but the first step along a road which leads straight to Hell!

INTERNATIONAL CONVENTIONS AND AGREEMENTS

The rights and the lives of unborn children are protected by the Constitution of Ireland and by its Laws. In addition, they are protected by many international conventions and agreements to which Ireland is a party, whether at the United Nations, the Council of Europe or at other regional or thematic international organizations. The rights under these binding international agreements will still remain legally enforceable even if a majority of the Irish people vote "Yes" on 25th May.

EUROPEAN CONVENTION ON HUMAN RIGHTS

The European Court on Human Rights has developed its own jurisprudence on abortion, based on cases which have come before them on appeal from national courts in States parties to the European Convention on Human Rights. This jurisprudence is characterized by the search for workable compromises. As a result, it seldom satisfies either pro-abortion or anti-abortion countries. However, Lord David Steel has offered some interesting comments on abortion to the Court. Lord Steel, when a Minister in the British Government, had pressed the House of Commons to pass extremely "liberal" abortion legislation. He told the Court that he greatly regretted this because he had completely underestimated the number of abortions which would in fact take place in Britain. Lord Steel advised Ireland to be very slow to liberalize its abortion laws, including in cases involving either rape or the risk of suicide. Lord Steel was sympathetic to women who had become pregnant as a result of rape or who were suicidal, but he also felt that "liberalizing" abortion laws always had very negative consequences in the longer term.

GENOCIDE

If Government of Ireland succeeds in introducing abortion into the State, then Ireland could very well end up being prosecuted for Genocide before the International Criminal Court. Article 6 of the Rome Statute, establishing the International Criminal Court and to which Ireland is a party, provides inter alia that measures directed against a national group with a view to damaging that group and preventing births within that group amount to Genocide.

GOVERNMENT HEALTH WARNING

Any law or initiative which conflicts with, contradicts or runs contrary to the provisions of the Constitution of Ireland is by definition null and void. Anyone who seeks to introduce, promote, implement or enforce any law or initiative of any kind knowing it to conflict with the Constitution of Ireland, public policy or public morals, commits a serious criminal offence; and, if charged and found guilty upon indictment, shall be liable to receive such punishment or penalty as a Court of Law may deem appropriate, including imprisonment.

Maurice Biggar, 10th May 2018

Bachelor of Civil Law (National University of Ireland), Barrister at Law (King’s Inns),

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Maurice is a diplomat, lawyer, historian and linguist. He spent some 33 years serving Ireland and the Irish State. He has lectured on international relations, the European Union and the Treaty of Lisbon at the National University of Ireland. He is an expert and regular contributor on European integration and on the possible departure of the United Kingdom from the European Union. Maurice is an expert on Irish Law, including Constitutional Law, United Kingdom Law (Common Law), European Union Law (Civil Law), Roman Law and Public International Law. As a diplomat, Maurice was accredited to the United Nations General Assembly and to the United Nations Security Council, to the European Union, to the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development in Paris, to the Kingdom of the Belgians and to the Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg. He served on the United Nations' Counter-Terrorism Committee in New York which was established by the United Nations Security Council immediately after the terrorist attacks against the Twin Towers and the United States of 11th September 2001 (9/11). Maurice started as one of two Irish representatives on the Committee, but he was asked by the Chairman of the Committee to stay on as Independent United Nations Legal Consultant. In that capacity, Maurice advised the Counter-Terrorism Committee on points of Public International Law, Treaty Law, International Criminal Law and the Law of Counter-Terrorism. Maurice also drafted legal correspondence on behalf of the Chairman of the Committee and the Counter-Terrorism Committee itself. Subsequently, Maurice was a co-founder of the European Endowment for Democracy and served as one of the first Governors of the Endowment. He presented the case which Ireland made before the United Nations in support of the establishment of an International Criminal Court. Maurice was awarded the Gold Medal in History by the National University of Ireland. He won both the Individual Gold Medal and the Team Gold Medal in the Irish Times Debating Championships. He is a consummate advocate and an expert on foreign policy. He is an experienced international negotiator and an accomplished speech-writer. A published poet, as well as a skillful legal draftsman, Maurice is an accomplished linguist. He is fluent in Irish, French, Latin, and English. He also has a working knowledge of German, Dutch, Italian and Spanish. 

On 28 June 2013, after undergoing very invasive surgery for breast cancer, Maurice retired from the Department of Foreign Affairs with the rank of First Secretary. On 20 September 2013, Maurice married Georgina O'Keeffe, his long-time sweetheart and the love of his life. In his retirement, he tries on a modest pension to provide for Georgina and her two beautiful children, Sophia and Jason. Maurice writes on a wide variety of subjects and maintains a blog on politics and current affairs. He is available for consultancy work, as appropriate.

11th May 2018