Citizens’ Assembly puts ball in Fine Gael court to legislate for freely available abortion
Workers’ Party activists including Seamus McDonagh with the party’s Repeal the 8th Amendment banner in Dublin last week
The Workers’ Party has said that the concluding votes of the Citizens’ Assembly show a clear mandate for freely available access to abortion, which must now be acted on by Fine Gael.
Responding to the final vote of the Assembly which took place yesterday (Sunday), Seamus McDonagh (Workers’ Party), said:
“It is remarkable that even given the misinformation circulated yesterday at the Citizens’ Assembly, its members voted resoundingly to trust women to make decisions about whether or not to continue unwanted pregnancies.
“We now need a clear statement of intent from Fine Gael to call a referendum and introduce legislation for abortion in all circumstances mandated by the Citizens’ Assembly.”
The Workers’ Party representative said:
“Taken as a whole, the results produced by the Citizens’ Assembly support reform of Ireland’s abortion laws far beyond just the repeal of the 8th amendment. A majority support unrestricted access to abortion in the first 22 weeks of gestation, and unrestricted access without term limits in a wide range of specific circumstances”.
“Fine Gael set up the Assembly – with the explicit justification that it was the most democratic way to determine the future of Ireland’s abortion laws. They must now begin the work of implementing its outcomes.”, said Seamus McDonagh