Presbyterian Church comes out against '˜regressive' abortion reform in Republic

The church, which has 225,000 members, 13,000 of them in the Republic of Ireland, informed its clergy and congregations of its position on the referendum by letter at the weekend.

The Eighth Amendment of the Republic’s Constitution says that unborn children and their mother are to be valued equally.

A referendum on repealing it will be held on May 25, with Taoiseach Leo Varadkar among those calling for repeal.

Currently abortions are only allowed when the life of the mother is at risk.

The government’s referendum wording is: “Provision may be made by law for the regulation of termination of pregnancies.”

An opinion poll this month by the Irish Times and Ipsos MRBI suggests 63% of voters could be in favour of repeal with 37% opting for the status quo.

It is estimated over 3,500 women could be leaving the south each year for abortions. Campaigners are seeking unrestricted abortion up to 12 weeks into pregnancy.

The Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, Rt Rev Dr Noble McNeely, along with former moderator and minister emeritus of Lucan Presbyterian Church in Dublin, Dr Trevor Morrow, and the clerk of the denomination’s general assembly, Rev Trevor Gribben, wrote to ministers and congregations in the Republic outlining the position of the church.

In their letter, they concluded that “meaningful protection for the unborn can only be secured if the Eighth Amendment is retained in the forthcoming referendum”.

As a church, the clerics say they can’t direct people how to vote but instead they ask Presbyterians to “prayerfully consider” the matters before them and “vote in accordance with their consciences”.

The church said that in light of the Irish government’s “clear intention to introduce unrestricted access to abortion up to 12 weeks of pregnancy” if the Eighth Amendment is repealed, the clerics concluded that “meaningful protection for the unborn can only be secured if the Eighth Amendment is retained in the forthcoming referendum”.

The church wrote to TDs and Senators in January affirming the value of every human life, while “emphasising the importance of care for women, children and families in times of crisis”.

The clerics said: “As Christians, we see the scriptures speaking consistently of the importance and value of human life, including that of the unborn. On that basis, we are responsible before God to honour the sanctity of human life.

“While recognising that there are mixed views within our church about the adequacy of the current constitutional provision, particularly around those exceptional circumstances in which the termination of pregnancy may be necessary, we consider the proposals for unrestricted access to abortion to be regressive, incompatible with human dignity and morally unacceptable.”

There have already been five referendums related to the issue, the first in 1983.

Several cases have provoked debate, including that of Ann Lovett, a 15-year-old schoolgirl, who died giving birth to a baby son alone in 1984 in Co Longford.

Another was the case of Indian dentist Savita Halappanavar, who died from sepsis after being told earlier that she could not have an abortion. She died after a miscarriage in University Hospital in Galway in October 2012.