I received a questionnaire from the pro-life campaign that required blanket yes/no answers with zero room for reasoning or nuance so I decided to answer those questions here too as it is a topic that many might want to know my position on.
For clarity, I am pro-choice and here are the questions and answers:
If elected, will you support measures to help reduce Ireland’s rapidly increasing abortion rate, including fair representation for pro-life voices on bodies overseeing policy in this area?
That depends on what kinds of measures we are talking about. If we are talking about measures to reduce the impact of external factors that lead women to experiencing unwanted pregnancies or that push them to feeling like they cannot have a child at this time, then absolutely I will support that, all day long.
If we are talking about imposing measures that reduce women’s autonomy over their own bodies and seek to restrict their access to healthcare? Then no.
I would wish that no woman ever experienced an unwanted pregnancy or a crisis in pregnancy. Due to the huge variety of potential complications, that won’t ever happen but I am enthusiastically prepared to work very hard to reduce the number of external life factors that contribute towards the choice to have an abortion - including rape, sexual assault and abuse and other factors such as cost of living, housing, healthcare and the ever prevalent stigmas - that still push women one direction or another.
I fully support the inclusion of all voices in discussions around policy in Ireland and all groups should be given equal opportunity to have their views heard.
In principle, do you favour the restoration of legal protection for unborn babies at some point in the future?
Unequivocally no. Whether people are willing to admit it or not, there is a conflict between protections in law for women and the unborn. Enshrining protections for one, affects protections for the other. It is entirely the wrong mechanism to address issues in this complex area.
Abortion is not a single question and it cannot be effectively addressed by a single legal instrument applied in a blanket fashion. Ireland has already learned this the hard way. The right balance of legislation and policy applied to different situations is the only route that can provide robust holistic protections that the majority of the electorate can consistently support.
Otherwise, we are doomed to a constant swing between pro-life and pro-choice positions depending on the most recent events in this area and who is in power now - just as we see in America. The suffering and uncertainty of these swings are intolerable but they will carry on until we accept that any single overarching extreme measure is not sustainable and will inevitably lead over time to a swing in the opposite direction.
If elected, will you support the legal strengthening of freedom of conscience protections for healthcare workers?
No. Freedom of conscience should not extend to a license to impose your personal beliefs on the medical needs of others.
This does not just impact abortion but all reproductive care. It cannot be denied that there are a number of religions and cultures who promote a wide variety of beliefs in relation to women, their reproduction and societal roles.
Allowing all of these free reign to allow or deny healthcare to women for any and all treatments or procedures means that the fundamental rights of women are subordinate to any religious beliefs an individual healthcare professional might hold and I don’t support that.
Are you opposed to or in favour of the legalisation of euthanasia/assisted suicide?
I’m very much in favour of people who are terminally ill and in a great deal of sometimes unmanageable mental or physical pain being able to take control of that situation if they would want or need to.
However, I have seen how this type of legislation has played out in Canada and people with mental health conditions or disabilities are being denied care but offered assisted suicide as an alternative.
Ultimately, I do not have the level of trust in our government that I would need to support legislation in this area for several reasons. Foremost amongst them is that I do not see any way to permanently limit such interventions to the terminally ill. Once enacted, the scope is limitless and we need to be wary of that, I think.
Did you vote No or Yes in the 2018 referendum on whether to repeal the Eighth Amendment?
Voting is a private matter. I don’t really think it is appropriate to ask this question and so I’m not going to answer it although it’s likely clear from my previous answers!
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