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THE CHAIR OF the Citizens’ Assembly has moved to reaffirm its commitment to balance while discussing the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution following criticism from the anti-abortion side of the debate.
Supreme Court judge Ms Justice Mary Laffoy addressed the 99 members of the assembly this afternoon, saying that the pursuit of balance was “fundamental” to the work of the assembly to date.
Laffoy restated the reasoning behind the formation of the work programme and reaffirmed her commitment to having both sides of the debate represented as equally as possible.
“We have consistently tried to put the medical and the legal material before you in a factual, neutral and balanced manner,” she said.
“I have to say this balance can be difficult to achieve in such a highly contested and controversial area.”
While not directly mentioning any criticism, Ms Justice Laffoy appeared to be addressing complaints from the anti-abortion side of the debate that the programme of speakers wasn’t balanced enough.
Anti-abortion group the Life Institute said yesterday that the assembly had “lost all credibility” as it featured submissions from representatives of groups who carried out abortions.
This was in response to the assembly hearing yesterday from representatives connected with the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) – the UK’s leading abortion care service – and the New York-based Guttmacher Institute.
Yesterday, the assembly heard from Dr Patricia A. Lohr, an obstetrician and gynaecologist who has also been medical director of BPAS since 2007.
Lohr’s expert submission focussed on Irish women who travelled to the UK for abortions.
Response
Ms Justice Laffoy said today that the way in which the speakers were laid out was to ensure that the medical and legal perspectives of abortion were considered before any arguments for or against were put forward.
“I wanted you to know how things happen on the ground and I wanted you to know what the law is in practice,” she said.
“I decided to do this by selecting speakers who were highly experienced and experts in their respective fields but who had not expressed a viewpoint of opinion on the Eighth Amendment.
I also set out to ensure that speakers with connections to organisations which are regarded as promoting one side of the issue would be asked to present a factual narrative of the position on the ground.
They were asked in explicit terms not to adopt an advocacy approach.
This weekend marked the third meeting of the Citizens’ Assembly in dealing with the issues surrounding the Eighth Amendment. It will meet again next month on 3 and 4 of March.
Today, the 99 members of the assembly today heard arguments for and against abortion from an ethical perspective.
Look back over the stream from this weekend’s session here.
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Fecking hate cancer.
If you can dodge cancer you can dodge a dodgeball
Maybe spending too much time with Fran Stalinovskovichdavidovitchsky, the most dangerous women on the planet
Good news. I like him. His movies make me and the kids laugh.
A PSA (prostate specific antigen) test is a simple blood test. All men over the age of 50 should have one regularly. They can do great things now if they get it early enough. Well done Mr Stiller.
@Deborah Behan: So you don’t need a finger up your bum anymore? Happy days.
Deborah the problem with PSA testing is that normal levels don’t always exclude cancer and elevated levels don’t always mean cancer. This is highlighted in the article. Thus it is not conclusive if all men should be screened because it leads to a lot of testing, some of which is invasive, and many of these tests will be completed on people that don’t turn out to have prostate cancer. Hence the best advice is included in the article, ie from age 50 discuss with doctor. This is all complicated by the fact that prostrate cancer is quite common, and in many cases slow growing. Indeed most men with prorate cancer do not die from it.
Never rated him much as an actor but he’s to be commended for fighting this and making it public.
Always liked his movies a lot. Great news
Get that finger up yer bum early gents!
@Barton Hobbes: A doctors or E.T’s. as the blood test would be more reliable?
I heard that in men that the risk of getting this cancer is the same as your age, so someone 31 has a 31% chance of getting it and a man of 62 has a 62% chance of getting it, I do not know if this is 100% fact but interesting. It is believed taking a daily amount of zinc can help prevent this cancer but another one to look into?
What
“I heard that…”
“It is believed…”
Excellent scientific research!
Apparently pleasuring yourself prevents male prostate cancer.
I wonder was this caused by the time he zipped up his pants the wrong way?
I like him! Check out ‘Permanent Midnight’
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