Taoiseach warns of ‘re-victimising women’ if proposed abortion legislation is changed
There's a risk of re-victimising women if proposed new abortion legislation is changed, according to the Taoiseach.
Tánaiste Simon Coveney wants to see legislation for abortions in cases of incest and rape if the Eighth Amendment is repealed.
This breaks from the Taoiseach's view that abortion without restriction should be allowed for up to 12 weeks into a pregnancy.
Leo Varadkar suggested legislating just for cases of rape and incest wouldn't go far enough.
“The Oireachtas Committee considered the evidence very carefully and came to the conclusions that they did,” he said.
“Those conclusions certainly, to me, and I think most members in this house, make a lot of sense.
“We risk re-victimising women if in some way we ask them to prove to their doctor or anyone else that they were a victim of sexual violence, and certainly I would not like that to be our law.”
