Irish Voters Reject E.U. Treaty That Opponents Argued Could Have Changed Country's Abortion Laws

Main Category: Abortion
Also Included In: Sexual Health / STDs
Article Date: 18 Jun 2008 - 10:00 PDT

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Irish voters on Friday voted 53% to 46% to reject a European Union treaty that opponents argued could have led to changes in Ireland's abortion ban, the Los Angeles Times reports. According to the Times, Ireland is the only E.U. country holding a vote on the Lisbon Treaty, designed to give the union a new organizational framework. All 27 E.U. members are required to ratify the treaty for it to take effect (Mahoney/Murphy, Los Angeles Times, 6/14).

According to the AP/Google.com, groups opposed to the treaty -- including the Roman Catholic group called Coir, which means "justice" in Gaelic -- argued that it could force Ireland to change its core policies on issues ranging from business taxes to abortion (Pogatchnik, AP/Google.com, 6/13). Prior to Friday's vote, Coir spokesperson Niamh Ui Bhrain said, "The Lisbon Treaty gives the European Court of Justice the right to make a future ruling on Ireland's abortion laws" (Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 6/10).

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French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel issued a joint statement calling for ratification by other E.U. members, London's Guardian reports. Jose Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission, said, "I believe the treaty is alive," adding, "The ratification process is made up of 27 national processes; 18 member states have already approved the treaty, and the commission believes the remaining ratifications should continue to take their course" (McDonald/Traynor, Guardian, 6/14).

Daniel Cohn-Bendit, a French-German Green politician, said Irish voters who rejected the treaty feared that it would "open the door to gay marriage and abortion." He added that the treaty could still be salvaged and that Irish voters should be asked again "if they really want to stand to one side and block everything" (Scally, Irish Times, 6/16). Richard Greene, a spokesperson for Coir, said, "We need to hear clearly from all our leaders that the Lisbon Treaty cannot be brought back from the dead." Ireland's Minister for European Affairs, Dick Roche, predicted a second vote would be difficult, if not impossible in Ireland, the AP/Google.com reports. "As far as I'm concerned, this treaty is a dead letter," Roche said (AP/Google.com, 6/13).

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