@Peter Smyth: Those aborted never get a choice. That’s the problem.

@Andrew Eager: lol

@KEV: Or those that value life

@Andrew Eager: hahaha zing! My unborn kids don’t get a vote either! The crotch leans left..

@KEV: yeah agreed repeal would be the best course it is the popular opinion, its laughable fg catherine noone jumping on this, when she has been silent for years leading up to this but what can we expect from an up and coming neo liberal. A better example is to look at Deputy Coppinger, Deputy Smith, solidarity PBP’s and the majority of irish’s support for the repeal the 8th to see real activism and protest.

@Andrew Eager: Why would you give an embryo a ‘choice’ ?

@Andrew Eager: “Those aborted never get a choice. That’s the problem.”

Why? They were never aware of any such choice to begin with. A potential life doesn’t lose anything by not being brought into existence… it just isn’t. It’s not meaningful to say they never got a choice.

@Search Eagle: As much as folks like to pretend otherwise, we are talking about humans growing and developing. We also don’t let children vote, and dont make them legally culpable for their actions. Human existence is a matter of ongoing change – any insistence that there is a meaningful difference in the humanity of a fetus, baby, child or adult is entirely self-serving and to my mind, dishonest.

@Andrew Eager: if the woman is 100% certain that she wants to have that non viable embryo/foetus removed from her womb,then isn’t it better that she has it done in a safe,legal environment ? Or do you prefer her having her swallow a few pills alone,& without medical supervision ?

@Peter Smyth: I have never seen anybody suggesting that everybody should have an abortion. The fact is that there is no middle ground in this matter. Abortion is either right or wrong. If it is wrong then it is wrong in all circumstances. It is ridiculous to suggest that is permissible to take the life of the child in the womb in some circumstances but not others. Why discriminate ? Abortion is never necessary and always wrong. Vote No!

@Michael Daly: the referendum is not to decide whether or not abortion should be allowed, it is purely to decide whether or no to remove the 8th amendment. Even if the referendum is passed, abortion will still be illegal here.

@Are U Rosie too: an embryo to someone who wants to abort it, a baby to someone who wants to keep it. I don’t think any woman who has had a miscarriage says “I lost my embryo”

@Peter Smyth: Actually, it’s just ordinary, decent people with consciences who believe it’s wrong to kill unborn babies before they get to pull their first breath who want to retain it in full.

@KEV: Except that people in this country are inherently Catholic and indoctrinated by the church – nobody agrees to that and yet that’s the situation. Plus, Island populations lacking cultural exchange do not support change. Loath me, but I predict a no-repeal.

@psychiatrist: the same argument was made before the marriage equality referendum. The public overwhelmingly saw through the spin then and they’ll see through it here too. Same as the oireachtas committee. and the citizens assembly. We already have abortions here. For those that don’t tick a box, we export them. The public are sick of appeasing the extremists. They’ll pass it and pass it well because it’s the right thing to do.

@Tyrone Williams: You are being either disingenuous or extraordinarily naive. What would be the point of the referendum if not to clear the way to legislate for abortion? And,of course, the plan then is to provide access to abortion in line with the Oireachtas Committee’s proposals for abortion on demand in the first 12 weeks.

@Peter Smyth: excluding of course the right of the child that will be killed.

@Liam Egan: if you know of someone killing children, report them to the gardai, shall every woman of childbearing age be forbidden to travel abroad, just in case they travel to get a abortion?

@Liam Egan: over 80% of terminations happen during and before the 9th week of pregnancy -you wouldn’t mind showing us that image of that “child” ?

@KEV: I am not extreme and I am not a fundamentalist!!!! On yer bike Kev!

@KEV: I’ve said it before and I will say it again – all the indicators are that the referendum will be defeated. A few months ago Amnesty International published a poll showing overwhelming support for repeal – it now looks very like that poll was rigged to get a favourable result. The truth is now dawning on the Government that the reality is very different and Regina Doherty’s statement is the start of damage limitation for what is going to be a very embarrassing result for the administration.

@Clarissa: I said I lost the pregnancy after all four of my miscarriages. 1 in 4 pregnancies end in miscarriage most women walking around you have experienced it. Some will be open about it some will be private, some will refer to it as a lost baby some will refer to it as a lost pregnancy, some will hold the pain forever and some will just get on with life and although it was a sad time it was just one of those things that happen. Whatever phrase they use and whatever people they tell it’s their choice because it is their pain. Please don’t get caught up on the terminalogy people choose to use it trivialises the debate.

@Bee Johnson: it’s just it’s hard not to notice that the pro-choice side always refer to it as an embryo or a fetus. I’m sure if they themselves miscarried when initially being happy they were pregnant did not refer to it as an embryo or a fetus. I’m pointing out that they change the terminology on the same thing based on how they want to get their pro choice pout across. If anything they are trivialising what other people view as a potential baby in order to make it morally okay to kill it. Something I just will never agree with it.

@Clarissa: more emotional hogwash from you…

@Francis Mc Carthy: Emotional? I think killing a baby would make anyone emotional. I think if you don’t feel emotion about that, you must be a sociopath.

@KEV: Repeal means death for aborted babies. Our politicians won’t protect them.

@Clarissa: a 7 week old embryo is NOT a baby.
A baby is a term that is given to a newborn right up until it’s 1st birthday..Quit with the emotional BS…

@KEV: repeal isn’t the middle ground. It is in fact, the extreme pro abortion ground, because it strips the unborn of their protection, opening them up to abortion attack, and their certain death.

Pro abortion extremists (Coppinger, Zappone, Kate O’Connell, Boyd Barrett, Brid Smith, Ailbhe Smith, Colm O’Gorman, B Howlinand co) desperately want to repeal the 8th in order to usher in full abortion on demand.

Thats why they are so desperate to destroy the 8ths protection. If the 8th goes, unborn Irish babies will die by abortion in increasing numbers.

Politicians can’t be trusted on abortion, most of the most voval pro aborts can’t either.

The 8th has, and will, save lives from abortion. Look at Britain to see the alternative 200,000 aborted dead yearly. (1/5 of all pregnancies).

Don’t be conned by the “trust women” trite, empty, slogans. KEEP the 8th.

@Peter Smyth: ” individual choice” is death for the child aborted. NO choice there for him/her, just abortion death.

Don’t trust politicians or the media anti 8th, pro abortion crowd on this one. They lie to push their 12 week (and beyond) abortion death on demand agenda.

Wheres the babys choice or human right to live ?

@Peter Smyth: “Abortion for some, miniature American flags for others.”

@JJ O Riordan: Sorry fetus, embryo, thing. I forgot to use the repeal playbook & dehumanise.

@Deborah Behan: I hope the repeal campaign have the likes of you canvassing. No would gain a few votes with you going round the doors.

@JJ O Riordan: wtf??

@DPentony: Yea I know, poor Savita Halappanavar.

@Paula Hannon: It not ok for the no side to use Down Syndrome but the yes side can use Savita. Most people have sympathy for Savita but 12 weeks without restrictions is not the answer.

@DPentony: legislators, legislating is the answer. The constitution is no place for this. It never was.

@Deborah Behan: when you shake your head, does it make a rattling sound?

@DPentony: that’s what Amnesty said at the Electric Picnic. – “This is not SSM, killing babies will be a harder sell”

@Paula Hannon: still in denial!

@Sighle A. Ni Chuana: At least they’re honest. I think it was meant for their ears only though & not for wider public consumption. Wouldn’t want to let the cat out of the bag & admit what it’s all about.

@BillRochdayle:
amusing coming from a christian who by definition believes in magic

@Stephen Coveney: care to elaborate? Or is it just one of your tiresome, vacuous musings?

@Stephen Coveney: Kindly care to elaborate on yours?

@DPentony: anti abortion campaigners were asked nicely to stop weaponising Downs. By DSI. Major difference. That’s even apart from the lies they use in relation to it.

@Paula Hannon: an abortion cures sepsis?

@Paula Hannon: educate yourself savita and her daughter died due to mismanaged sepsis. Stop misusing her death to further your sick agenda

@KEV: Our legislators who are mightily paid to legislate are too cowardly to legislate on this issue.
It should never have ended up in the constitution.

@BillRochdayle: Personal attack, is that all you have?

@BillRochdayle: Poor Bill,on the losing side again.

@Ismise Máire: read the hse report. It clearly identifies the 8th as a contributing factor in her death, and recommended legal and constitutional change should be considered

@DPentony: should we contact the gardai and the chief medical examiner for a miscarriage? This can then be investigated as an unexplained death.

@Mark Hayden: That is just the HSE trying to muddy the waters to cover their own ass. They didn’t pick up that she had sepsis which is not exclusive to pregnancy. The HSE are well known for not accepting responsibility don’t the fight medical negligence cases to the steps of the High Court knowing full well that they are at fault disgraceful putting already traumatised families through that. They should accept responsibility when they are at fault.

@Paula Hannon: Savita’s death has nothing to do with the 8th amendment, in fact if the 8th is repealed, women in her position would be worse off.
The 8th amendment has a clause that allows for abortion when the mothers life is at risk. Unfortunately due to our incompetent politicians no clear law has been enacted to legislate for this. It was delayed reactions by the medical team due to the confusion caused by poor/lack off legislation that caused the death of Savita.

@Tyrone Williams: At least with the 8th in place, the doctors could claim that they were acting in accordance with the constitution, once it is removed, until legislation is enacted, they will no longer have even this small protection.
By the way, I will be voting Yes, not because I favour abortion, but because I believe that the constitution is not the correct place for this, politicians need to step up and do their job and stop hiding behind referenda.

@DPentony: Ask Deborah Behan why she got rid of her Repeal the Eight monikor if she is so determined for the appeal to succeed. She is a government sponsored troll.

@JJ O Riordan: the human baby in the mothers womb. Study some 3D Ultrascan.

U can see them being aborted to death.

@DPentony: In this context “repeal” IS death by abortion as the 12 week abortion death on demand folly shows.

@Ania_on_coffee: you seem to be under the mistaken assumption your opinions area facts.

@Ania_on_coffee:
While I fully respect your choice not to have a termination using the word evil kind of contradicts your point of language being twisted. Consider 2 women both aged 40 one has been through 3 rounds of IVF and is over the moon to finally be pregnant the other has found herself already a mother of 4 children with a unplanned but never the less much wanted pregnancy. Both women have been given the sad news that due to their age and health complications they both have a 20% chance of dying as a result of the pregnancy. Woman 1 makes the decision with her partner and doctor that a 20% chance of her loosing her life means an 80% chance both will survive and it is a risk she is willing to take. Woman 2 however after discussing it with her parenter and doctor is of the opinion that although she would very much love to have this baby she has 4 born children who need her now and she decides that 20% chance of her loosing her life and her children being without their mother is a risk that she is not willing to take. Now I’m not trying to convince you that abortion would ever be right for you but to just consider for one second that perhaps you do not have the right to judge a women on the health choices she makes for her or her family anymore then you would accept her opinion if your child was on life support and while discussing the health options for your child with your doctor she was to storm in and demand her opinion should be taken into consideration .

@Kieran Walsh: Yes that is exactly what I’m saying, that abortion is not healthcare, certainly not abortion on demand. If a woman has a medical condition that is worsened by pregnancy, then medics should look into working on this. The purpose of doctors and biomedical scientists is to improve the quality of life, and to save life than to get rid of it.

@Ania_on_coffee: “abortion is not healthcare” – at least you’re somewhat right here, in so far as the woman literally needs to be in the brink of death right now before being granted access to one.

Scary situation. Easy to be high and mighty about this one until you find yourself in that position.

@Bee Johnson: well put Bee!

@Ania_on_coffee: Get off your moral high horse, you awful Nimbyist

@Ania_on_coffee: Well said

@Bee Johnson: Becoming pregnant for a woman when she is older- is not a death sentence. Secondly, no doctor can give definitive statistics about life or death. Human life is quite unpredictable in fact.

I’m not judging women, I’m judging the action of murdering innocent life. I consider it extremely unjust towards the unborn baby, how it’s life is dependent upon the circumstances of the parents or their attitude towards pregnancy, as you gave examples of two women.

@Ania_on_coffee: “I’m not judging women, I’m judging the action of murdering innocent life.” – which so coincidentally happens to be judging the women also, as it is the woman who might request the “murdering of innocent life”.

I’m not judging you, I’m judging the action of forcing moral grandstanding onto an already marginalized demographic.

@Bee Johnson: But I respect arguments like yours a lot more than stupid accusations by people.

The real difference between the two women in your example is the fact that one is afraid of leaving 4 children behind in case of (uncertain) death, and another has not much to lose.
But we should evaluate the morality of an action by focusing on the intention. To save life or not kill it, is a moral intention, we both agree on that. Abortion always has the intent of deliberately ending life, so it cannot be made ‘right’ under any circumstances.

@Larissa Caroline Nikolaus: are insults necessary? Is it doing any favours?

@Ania_on_coffee: thank you for sharing your ‘opinion’. In a functioning democracy you are entitled to one. And also in a functional democracy women have rights that do not change simply by becoming pregnant. Women are not simply vassals. In a functioning democracy their bodily autonomy remains in place regardless. In Ireland, thanks to our constitution that is not the case. The 8th needs to be repealed – as soon as possible. It does not belong in our constitution.

@Ania_on_coffee: such simplistic reductionism. So if a woman is pregnant and gets a diagnosis of FFA, and continuing the pregnancy could be seriously detrimental to her long term health, then a termination would potentially save the woman’s long term health when the fetus is non-viable anyway.
By your logic the pregnancy should be carried to term, the baby delivered stillborn, and the woman’s health put at risk.
Talk about “loving both”.

@Quango: I’ll give you an example of why it is possible. Even people that we love – can sometimes do bad things. But somehow we don’t stop loving them, and we condemn their action rather than the person.

@Ania_on_coffee: “condemning their actions” like blaming a 14 year old rape victim for not wanting to continue with the resulting pregnancy?
An argument devoid of any compassion.

@Ania_on_coffee: An uneducated fool like you wouldn’t know anyway. Your racist commenting on here proves that. Go out your apron back on and be a housewife if you want, stop getting in the way of other women.

@Quango: How is the foetus non-viable when a woman has frontal fibrosing alopecia? If a foetus is non-viable then taking it out of a woman is not the same as abortion.

@Gary Casserly: Racist commenting? What are you on about, do you have proof? ‘Go out your apron back on’ – so you call me uneducated while you cannot even spell or construct sentences.

@Quango: Is your issue rape or the fact that a girl is 14?
A 14 year old is developed physically as a 17 year old.  She can give birth to a healthy baby.
Rape is a separate issue, and very serious. I think we should listen to rape victims who got pregnant. But my view about abortion stays the same.

@Ania_on_coffee: the example from my comment is completely plausible, and the expectation illustrated of how that pregnancy would unfold is exactly in line with the ideology which you are promoting.
Your response is attempt to skew the debate off topic, and stinks of the not-in-my-back-garden grand standing we see so prevalent today.
Admit it, you would have the woman carry the pregnancy to term, risk her health, and have the birth delivered stillborn anyway.

@Ania_on_coffee: You ARE judging women.

@Ania_on_coffee: my issue is with the very real X case from the early 90’s where a 14 year old rape victim was detained for attempting to travel to the UK for a termination.
Compounding the trauma which that victim underwent already you would force her through the mental, emotional and physical turmoil of being pregnant and giving birth to her rapists baby.

@Dave Doyle: What’s wrong with judging women? What’s wrong with judging men? What’s wrong with judgement? ” Everybody judges all the time. Now, you got a problem with that, you’re living wrong.”

@Andrew Eager: judging women undermines the argument of “love-both”.

@Ania_on_coffee:abortion IS healthcare ..you can actually look that up..

@Andrew Eager: So you’re happy with people who don’t know SFA about you or your life judging you?
Yeah, right.

@Ania_on_coffee: You think a grown woman life, a woman with a husband, family, friends, commitments, etc. is not much to lose to continue a pregnancy. But apparently when it’s an embryo or foetus that’s at most the size of a lime, and absolutely can’t survive outside the woman’s body, it’s morally unacceptable to end the pregnancy to protect the woman’s life. Says it all really.

@Kieran Walsh: if both woman and child are healthy physically and mentally then why is there a need for termination

@Carol Oates: A newborn baby is fully dependent on an adult for survival. A newborn is lighter than a watermelon. A newborn baby doesn’t have the life experiences of a grown woman. It is still human, just like the unborn, and equal to the life of a woman.

@Ania_on_coffee: an embryo cannot be looked after by another human-a newborn can…who’d thunk it ?

@Ania_on_coffee: Absolute nonsense. A new born bady is not reliant on a single human being’s body for survival. A new born baby can be cared for by anyone. When was the last time you saw a woman handing her 12 week foetus to someone to babysit for a couple of hours before safety taking it back into her care? If you don’t know the difference between a 12 week foetus and a new born baby, you don’t really understand the basics of biology.

@Kieran Walsh: no i think that the point is not to end the life of a healthy innocent baby. #savethe8th #punishtherapistnotthechild
#humanrightsforall
#fathershouldhaverightstoo

@Are U Rosie too: Definitions, definitions.

Let’s see now.

Health care: efforts made to maintain or restore physical, mental, or emotional well-being especially by trained and licensed professionals.

Abortion: the termination of a pregnancy after, accompanied by, resulting in, or closely followed by the death of the embryo or fetus.

Kind of like saying a bullet in the head is a dose of aspirin. Kind of.

@Carol Oates: I understand far more than basic biology since my degree is biomedical. If you want to debate biology with me, then go ahead. I know the physiological difference between a 12 week foetus and a newborn. Genetically they are exactly the same, but they are at different developmental stages.
It is natural for a newborn to be cared primarily by the mother, and father. If it was normal to be cared by ‘anyone’ then we wouldn’t have a society and civilization.

@Carol Oates: one wonders how a newborn baby (or bady, nice Freudian slip there, Cazza

@Bee Johnson: Hard cases make bad law

@Ania_on_coffee: The Joint Committee on The Eight Amentment of the Constitution sat for quite some time and examined all the scientific evidence put in front of them, naturally scaremongering, unscientific evidence and religious hoo-ha was discounted. The concluded the need for changing our current laws based on several points including the medical and scientific evidence presented.
On Point 2.37 The Citizens Assembly recommended that termination of pregnancy should be lawful, up to 22 weeks gestation, on socio-economic grounds. The Assembly also recommended that termination of pregnancy should be lawful, up to 12 weeks gestation, without restriction as to reason.

The Citizens Assembly made many other recommendations including the need for better services for pregnant women and more effective ways to avoid crisis pregnancies.
The Committee recommended the introduction of a scheme for the provision of the most effective method of contraception, free of charge and having regard to personal circumstances, to all people who wish to avail of them within the State.
The Committee recommended a thorough review of sexual health and relationship education, including the areas of contraception and consent, in primary and post-primary schools, colleges, youth clubs and other organisations involved in education and interactions with young people. Sufficient time must be provided in the school’s curriculum for such education and it should be taught by suitably qualified personnel. The information should be provided in an impartial and factual manner that is independent of school ethos.

@Ania_on_coffee: “Abortion is not healthcare” Abortion can be healthcare, as we’ve seen recently in this country, and denial of it in some circumstances can certainly prove fatal. It’s misrepresentation to say something like this.

May I ask if you’re a member of any organisation or religious group? Are you a practicing Catholic? Cards on the table.

“No doctor can give definitive statistics about life or death”. Rubbish. Yes they can, it does however depend on what statistics you’re requesting. Life is 100% fatal, nobody survives it.
“I’m not judging women, I’m judging the action of murdering innocent life”. Nonsense, when you use inflammatory language like “murdering innocent life” you’re hardly being neutral, are you? Judging women and provoking a deliberate response is precisely what you’re doing, you’re not respecting anyone you’re attempting to shame those who disagree with you. Morality is not yours to judge.

@Ismise Máire: But you are punishing the woman or girl who was raped and doesn’t want to carry or give birth to her rapist’s child. Pregnancy and birth leave emotional, physical, and mental scars. Not to mention having people ask who’s the dad and having to lie or admit a deeply personal trauma. Then what about when the rapist serves their sentence, if they are convicted at all, and is awarded access? Don’t say it wouldn’t happen because I heard it directly from a judge that it absolutely can. I have absolute respect for any woman who decides to keep a child of rape and she should get every bit of support and protection she deserves, but it’s monstrous to deny a rape victim an abortion if she requests one.

@Jed I. Knight: here here

@Ania_on_coffee: to go back to your original comment “how can abortion ever be considered compassionate healthcare” well for one in the case of Savita. When her cervix was open and a miscarriage was inevitable and at 17 weeks gestation her baby was far from viable. She asks for a termination because as a health professional she knew the risk of sepsis she was refused because there was still a feotal heartbeat . She died because of a direct result of the 8th and this has been confirmed by more then one doctor who reviewed her case. If she was your sister or mother or daughter would you brand her a murderer or say she had nothing to loose by respecting the 8th and not intervening medically for her own health. I very much doubt her husband or parents felt she had nothing to loose. I think perhaps along with your biomedical degree you should perhaps learn a little about empathy as it seems you have very little.

@Ania_on_coffee: What is the norm for care of a newborn is irrelevant. A newborn is not physically reliant on the body of a single human being for it’s existence. It can survive separate from the mother once cared for. An embryo or up to 12 week foetus can not. It survival is dependant on the body of the woman and in some cases the body of the woman against her wishes. You would think, someone with your claimed background would know these things.

@Jonathan of Toast: Says more about the reader than the writer when they suppose meaning where there is none.

@Dave Doyle: No problem at all with people judging me. It does strike me that people who choose elective abortions are judging the foetus unworthy of life and not as important as their own needs and wants, so I’m rather puzzled as to why you have such a problem with judgement.

@Andrew Eager: the majority of women who’ve had abortions,would already have brought ‘life’ into this world,many would have done it multiple times..best to let these decisions to the woman and her doctor…

@Bee Johnson: Savita Halappanavar, was pregnant and she went to a doctor to request an abortion. She wanted an abortion due to fear of mental trauma, and she had no symptoms at the time. Later her physical health became poorer. The doctor failed to diagnose her with an infection even though her white blood count was elevated. Her infection progressed, and she was admitted to a hospital. Her baby was monitored whether it had a heartbeat, and whether it was alive. It was still unknown that she had an infection, they thought it was simply symptoms of a miscarriage.
Only when the infection spread to other organs and when she had a fever, the infection was diagnosed. But her infection was resistant to antibiotics. She died of sepsis. There is no evidence that abortion would have saved her life. Her case is an example of medical negligence. If her infection was diagnosed on time, her life could have been saved.

“Delay or refusal to terminate the pregnancy does not in itself seem to be the cause of death. Even if the law permitted it, it is not as if her life would have been saved because of termination,” she said. “Severe septicaemia with disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC), a life-threatening bleeding disorder which is a complication of sepsis, major organ damage and loss of the mother’s blood due to severe infection, is the cause of death in Savita’s case. This is what seems to have happened and this is a sequence which cannot be reversed just by terminating the pregnancy.” – Dr. Divakar — president-elect of the Federation of Obstetric and Gynaecological Societies of India

@Jed I. Knight: Pregnancy is not a disease or a medical condition, and a foetus is not a parasite that deteriorates the health of a mother. A woman may require medical treatment which can cause harm to the foetus, -this is why in many cases ‘medical’ abortion is carried out. This only suggests serious flaws in medical research. In modern day and age we should have medical treatment that can ensure the health of both the mother and the baby – and this is what needs to be worked on.

Doctors do give statistics. But even doctors and surgeons often encounter very strange events, of the survival of a patient that was strongly predicted to die. Statistics are not certainties, and it is wrong to be making decisions based on statistics alone – especially when the decision involves ending human life.
The fact that you even ask the question about my religious background – suggests to me of your own weakness. In case you run out of arguments to debate me, you can then attack me personally? Yes I am a Christian. But this is not a card that I use.

@Andrew Eager: Good. But you’ll never get pregnant will you?

@Carol Oates:
Are you suggesting that I don’t know that a 12 week old foetus cannot be born prematurely and survive? Is this the best you can do?
Yes a very young life still needs the nutrients from the mother’s body. The environment of a womb allows for the development of a foetus, in order to be able to physically survive in the environment outside the womb. Note a key word here – environment. This is the difference between a newborn and a foetus, apart from developmental differences. One is in the womb and one is in the world. The environment of a womb does not diminish the human condition of the unborn, likewise the environment of the real world does not make a newborn more human than a foetus.

@Boyne Sharky: Sorry, but what point are you trying to make?

@Ania_on_coffee: keep going, Ania, I reckon her husband will sue you soon enough. You are becoming more outrageous and disrespectful by the minute. Is it just coffee you’re on?

@BillRochdayle: Why do you see calling someone a Not-In-My-Backyard-ist as an insult, because that’s what the so-called pro-life side are, a bunch of hypocrites, happy to have women travel or procure unsafe and illegal abortions, as long as they can close their eyes and pretend it doesn’t happen, because of the almighty 8th

@Ania_on_coffee: Are you even able to vote?

@Ania_on_coffee: Could you show me where I claimed pregnancy was a disease or medical condition, and when you can’t retract your comment or apologise please.
If you wish to argue with the medical and legal community then by all means, I invite you to do so. In fact if you feel so strongly about this I assume you made a submission to the Citizens Assembly? Didn’t you?
The idea that the medical community come across these events where people who are supposed to die, don’t, does happen. They’re called anomalies – not miracles. They’re extremely rare and in most cases have an explanation. Bear in mind there are quite literally thousands of people in rural USA who claim to have been anally probed by aliens, as statistical evidence of ET, or anything else this is poor to say the least.

Your damn right I’m asking about your religious background, if it mattered so little you’d let everyone else live their lives instead of preaching to them. And I’m asking more. Remember Jesus is watching. Have you and others joined this and other forums, social media etc. in order to push an anti-abortion agenda when the topic arises? No fudging, it’s a yes or no answer.

@Ania_on_coffee: Look, that’s the recommendation of the Citizens Assembly, as Jedi indicated you’ve clearly been sitting here for the past few weeks waiting for an abortion topic to arise. Whoever you’re representing has hung you out to dry.

@Jed I. Knight: @Jed I. Knight:

Where exactly did I say that you said pregnancy is a disease/medical condition, or if a foetus is a parasite? I have nothing to apologise for.
Healthcare is required in cases when there is a medical condition such as a disease, in prevention/treatment of disease, or when testing for a medical condition. You said that abortion is a form of healthcare. So, in relation to pregnancy, where does the aspect of a medical condition come into play, I wonder?

The answer to your question about whether I am representing a pro-life group/being funded – No.

You see, it is too easy to veer off the debate and get personal, which is exactly what you do. I simply don’t see you as a worthy opponent in debate.

By the way, it’s “You’re damn right”, not “your damn right”.

@Dave Doyle: No, and neither will you. What’s your point? You seem entirely perplexed and stumped by the notion that there might be more than one person involved in a pregnancy.