DUBLIN - The Irish APPG has issued a press release calling on the government to set a date for the holding of the referendum on access to abortion services in Ireland. IFPA is the secretariat to the Irish APPG.
The release reads as follows:
All Party Oireachtas Interest group on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights calls on Government to set a date for a referendum by spring 2018
The All Party Oireachtas Interest group on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (APG) welcomes the recommendations of the Citizens Assembly, which show the clear need for a referendum to be held to delete the text of the Eighth Amendment and to authorise the Oireachtas to legislate for legal terminations of pregnancy.
The APG calls on the government to expedite the work of the Oireachtas Committee set up to implement the Citizens Assembly report, and further calls on the government to set a date for the holding of the referendum on the Eighth Amendment, which should take place by the end of the first quarter of 2018 (end March 2018).
The APG will continue to address the issue of reproductive health more broadly and will work to inform Oireachtas members as to the international context for reproductive health laws and policies.
ENDS
Notes:
The All-Party Oireachtas Interest Group on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights was established in 2000. The Group consists of members of all political parties in the Dáil and Seanad.
Members believe that parliamentarians have a duty to promote and defend the sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) of all individuals. This includes their right to decide freely the number and spacing of children they may have.
Members also believe that parliamentarians should work to defend and advance gender equality and women’s empowerment and to eliminate all forms of discrimination, coercion and violence against women and girls.