Our doctors, who have a duty of care to both mother and baby, should be protected from having to carry out such obvious harm to the life of one of their patients, the unborn baby. Doctors should not be in danger of losing their job if they act in accordance with their conscience. In both the 1983 and the 2018 abortion referendums there was resounding support for the 8th amendment from the medical profession including from senior consultants in our maternity hospitals.

Dr David Jackson of the Royal Gwent Hospital spoke when locked in a trade dispute with the British Medical Association in June 2017:

“Abortion is not like any other surgical procedure. It is not real medicine. Pregnancy is not a disease in need of treatment. This decision is entirely ideologically motivated …”

The very nature of the medical profession is to be pro-life. Medicine is a vocation traditionally pursued by individuals who have the utmost respect for life. Repealing the 8th Amendment undermined the very core values that doctors swear to abide by.