Fianna Fail's youth wing has called on the Government to use a proposed Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) wording in an abortion referendum.
The call was made by delegates at the weekend's Ogra conference, in advance of the publication of the report by the All-Party Committee on the Constitution next Wednesday. Following a sometimes heated debate, a majority of delegates, on a show of hands, supported an amended motion that the IMO wording be used.
The original motion, submitted by the national youth committee, with a similar motion from Cork North Central, read: "Building on the excellent work of the all-party Oireachtas committee on the Constitution, Ogra calls on the Government to resolve the abortion issue, a matter of importance throughout the country."
Proposing the amendment, Mr Con O'Farrell-Kingsway (Cork North Central) said: "I am opposed to abortion. I believe we should look after people with crisis pregnancies. Abortion is the most important issue facing us, the young people, of this country."
He urged delegates to contact their TDs, making it clear they were opposed to abortion. "The people of this country do not want abortion. Most people in Fianna Fail do not want it."
He added that it was disappointing to hear people in Munster say they would resign from Fianna Fail if it fudged the abortion issue. "My attitude is strong. I do not impose my views on anyone, but I am a practising Catholic, and I was brought up with the teaching that if you bring life into this world you are responsible for it."
He said doctors - "the top medical men in this country" - had put forward a wording that no product of conception be destroyed by artificial means, which meant that what was put together by nature should not be destroyed.
Mr Paul Whelan (Roscommon) said: "This party is pro-life. Most of this country is pro-life. We have an atrocious record on the pro-life issue, because we have not dealt with the pro-life issue, because we have not dealt with the all-encompassing issues. Women with crisis pregnancies have not been looked after. We have not put together a coherent package."
He added that Irish women had abortions every year, and some of them believed they could not afford to bring up the children.
Addressing the male delegates in favour of the amended motion, Ms Siobhan Kelly (UCC) said: "You are never going to have to deal with abortion, whether to have an abortion or not . . . You can always walk away. The woman is left there with the child for the next 18 years of her life."
Ms Avril Power (Dun Laoghaire) welcomed the work of the all-party committee on the Constitution. "The Green Paper has highlighted the fact that abortion is a complex issue. It outlines no less than seven different options. It is time for a balanced and considered debate on the issue."
