The Labour Party in Ireland has adopted a policy to support making abortion legal up until birth without any restriction.

The policy was announced and voted through last Saturday 13 November, during their annual party conference. Since the repeal of the Eighth Amendment in 2018, abortion has been legal on demand up until 12 weeks of pregnancy. 

In addition to making abortion legal up until birth, Labour’s new policy seeks to remove the current 3-day waiting period between initial consultation and abortion, as well as remove the right of medical professionals to conscientiously refuse to be involved in abortion.

Ellen O’Sullivan of Labour Women introduced the motion on behalf of Tipperary, saying: “The barriers to access free, safe, legal and local abortions are numerous and for many people, they are too great to overcome”.

The motion was passed later that day.

Abortion up to birth, for any reason

The motion, proposed by Tipperary, argued that since abortion is legal after 12 weeks in Ireland for “fatal foetal anomalies” it should be available up to birth in all cases in order to prevent “discrimination”. The motion reads:

“As per the United Nations Convention of Rights of Persons with Disabilities, if later-term abortions are allowed for a fetus with a particular condition but aren’t allowed for healthy or non-disabled fetuses, it is deemed discriminatory and it breaches the provisions of the Convention”.

It goes on to say: “As such, Conference acknowledges that any list of conditions devalues the lives of people living with that condition and therefore the only way to facilitate an abortion for fatal fetal anomalies is to make later-term abortions available to all with no gestational time limit”.

“What the Labour Party has voted for is both chilling and grotesque”.

Responding to the decision taken at the Labour Party conference last weekend, Pro-Life Campaign spokesperson Eilís Mulroy said:

“For any remaining doubters that the pro-abortion movement was this radical, the Labour Party has surely put these doubts to rest. They just voted to take away the rights of unborn babies throughout the entire nine months of pregnancy, to in effect permit abortion on request up to birth”.

“What the Labour Party has voted for is both chilling and grotesque. They knowingly voted for it even after the fact that information has come to light that babies have survived the abortion procedure and been left to die unaided as a result of the abortion law that took effect in 2019. Rather than seek to address this horrific reality, they have voted to fully endorse it”.

Right To Life UK spokesperson, Catherine Robinson, said: “The Labour Party in Ireland’s support for the abortion extremism is indeed gross. There were 6,577 abortions in Ireland in 2020 alone. This is a national tragedy and it will likely get worse if Labour’s policy becomes law. Support for abortion at nine months, just before birth, is pure barbarism and the members of the Labour Party in Ireland who voted in its favor ought to be ashamed of themselves”.