A LARGE MAJORITY of Fianna Fail TDs support the holding of another referendum on abortion, according to the Pro-Life Campaign.
The campaign chairman, Mr Des Hanafin, said yesterday: "My own view is that the great majority would favour a referendum, and that they will say it publicly when the time comes. I've been lobbying for years and I believe I know the feelings of the party."
A referendum was the only way to ensure that wide-ranging abortion on demand was not introduced into Ireland, he said.
Mr Hanafin was speaking at a press conference organised by his campaign yesterday in the wake of the reemergence of abortion as a major political issue. The Pro-Life Campaign had been seeking a referendum since 1992, he said, and its lobbying of politicians would continue in the lead-up to and during a general election campaign.
He agreed that the campaign for a referendum was dependent on sufficient pressure being applied to Fianna Fail. He also said he believed that a majority of Fine Gael deputies would support the holding of a new referendum, but said that he spoke with "less authority" about that party.
He said that there would be no Pro-Life Campaign policy at national level to support certain candidates in the general election. "But local organisations might decide to support someone who was strongly supportive of their point of view."
He said that in 1983, the electorate had voted to ban abortion. "In 1992 the Supreme Court overturned the people's decision in a particularly traumatic case. To date the people have not been given the opportunity to accept or reject the Supreme Court judgment."
The 1992 referendum had seen the Government try to partially overturn the X case "by eliminating suicide but permitting other grounds for abortion. That referendum offered a choice between two different levels of abortion. Because of this the proposal was defeated".
He said the alternative to another referendum was legislation within the terms of the X judgment. Such legislation would allow abortion up to birth, as there was no time limit in the judgment. It would also allow abortion if the mother threatened suicide without any need for medical evidence.
"This is abortion on demand," said Mr Hanafin. "Anyone seeking a social abortion can threaten suicide if that is the qualifying requirement;"
The choice now available was stark, said Mr Hanafin. "The first option, which we are proposing, is a fair referendum giving the electorate the option to vote yes or no to abortion as they did in 1983. The other option is legislation, which would mean wide-ranging abortion."
The current policy, however, appeared to be to let matters drift. "Events in the past week show the dangers of that policy."
There was popular support for a referendum, he said, with 79 per cent of county councils and 65 per cent of local authorities demanding one. A private IMS poll conducted by the Pro-Life Campaign in 1993 showed 63 per cent in favour of a referendum with a clear choice, regardless of their own views of abortion.
The legal adviser to the campaign, Prof William Binchy, told the press conference that he believed the Supreme Court had misinterpreted the 1983 abortion amendment to the Constitution. "It is urgently necessary that appropriate legal steps be taken to rectify the Supreme Court judgment. It was not the intent of the electorate that abortion be introduced into Irish hospitals. The proper course is to give the electorate the opportunity by referendum to undo the damage of the Supreme Court judgment."
He proposed the addition of a sentence to Article 40.3.3. of the Constitution (see accompanying panel) which, he said, would ensure that abortion was unlawful in Ireland while at the same time maintaining the excellent standard of medical care available to Irish mothers.