Ireland’s opposition leader has revealed he changed his mind in favour of liberalising the Republic’s strict anti-abortion laws after meeting women forced to travel to Britain to end their pregnancies after learning they had no hope their babies would be born alive.

Micheál Martin has stunned conservative sections of his Fianna Fáil party by backing the repeal of the eighth amendment to the Irish Republic’s constitution, which prohibits abortion, in a nationwide referendum in May.

He told the Guardian in an interview he would “no longer countenance” supporting a situation where women with fatal foetal abnormalities or who had been made pregnant through sexual violence had to leave the country for an abortion.



“There were two things that changed my mind on the issue. The first was hearing evidence before Christmas from women who suffered from fatal foetal abnormalities while pregnant,” he said.

“After hearing their experiences in the Oireachtas (Irish parliament) and what they had to go through travelling to England for terminations, I realised I could no longer countenance supporting the status quo.



He continued: “It has to be the same for the victims of rape and incest who are made pregnant through sexual violence. Just like those women suffering from fatal foetal pregnancies I realised I could not support the status quo for them either.”

The Fianna Fáil chief ran the risk of splitting his party when he declared last month that he both backed repeal of the eighth amendment and the Fine Gael-led government’s additional proposal in the event of a yes vote for abortions to be legal in Irish hospitals in all circumstances in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy.

A number of Fianna Fáil TDs such as Declan Breathnach, who represents Louth in the Dáil, have confirmed that unlike their leader they will vote for maintaining the eighth amendment. Breathnach said he was “strongly pro-life” and did not agree with Martin.

Responding to fears of a party split, Martin said: “I actually think it is a measure [of] how far in terms of maturity our entire democratic parliamentary system has come that deputies in our party and other parties will be allowed freedom of conscience on this issue.

“When I came out with my statement this month even people who are on the other side said to me, ‘thank you for your candour.’ I hope and in fact I believe we can have a debate based on respect and tolerance, and that we respect each other in this campaign.”

While recent opinion polls have shown a majority of up to 60% are in favour of repealing the eighth amendment, a survey for the Sunday Business Post in late January found that support for abortion up to 12 weeks falls to 51%.

Martin, a former health minister, described claims by anti-abortion activists that allowing terminations for up to 12 weeks would lead to babies with Down’s syndrome being aborted as “a bogus argument.”

He also expressed concern over the use of images of people with Down’s syndrome during the referendum campaign, which the charity Down Syndrome Ireland urged all sides in the debate to avoid.

The anti-abortion group Disability Voices for Life has run a billboard campaign featuring a boy with Down’s that claims 90% of babies in Britain with the condition are aborted.

“I agree 100% with Down Syndrome Ireland on this,” Martin said. “All the experts we as parliamentarians spoke to over the last few months stated that the identification of the syndrome in 12 weeks of pregnancy is highly unlikely. So it is not a valid argument to use.

“The culture of respect in Ireland for people with Down’s syndrome will not change as a result of the repeal of the eighth amendment.”



This amendment, added to the republic’s constitution following a referendum in 1983, recognises the equal rights to life of a foetus and the mother during pregnancy.

Pro-choice campaigners say the amendment creates a “chill factor” in the health system preventing medical teams from carrying out abortions even in cases where a woman’s life may be at risk.

Martin said hearing evidence from medical professionals had also led him to rethink his position.



“What became apparent from listening to these experts was that the eighth amendment cast a cloud over the clinical, professional teams that have to make difficult decisions about crisis pregnancies,” he said.

“Hearing their evidence it was clear that the present situation created a climate of fear among medical teams with fears that they could face criminal prosecution if they carried out terminations. The scenario these medical teams faced was cruelly inflexible.”

Martin said he believed that the result in May, which could radically transform Irish society and mark another milestone defeat for the Catholic church’s authority, will be “a very tight outcome”.

