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SIMILAR TO HOW the debate went on the issue, there has been a mixed reaction to the announcement that President Michael D Higgins has signed the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill 2013 into law.
Following a meeting with the Council of State to discuss the legislation, the president chose not to refer it to the Supreme Court, instead deciding to make it the ‘Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act’.
One of the first people to welcome the passing of the bill was Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore, who was present at the Council of State meeting at Áras An Uachtaráin yesterday. He described President Higgins’ signature as “a key milestone in Irish law”:
The enactment of this legislation, 21 years after the Supreme Court ruling on the X Case, is a historic moment, particularly for the women of Ireland.
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However, the Pro Life Campaign described the passing of the bill as a “very sad day for this country”.
The group said they now plan to “devote its energies to the repeal” this law and will spend the coming weeks giving “very careful consideration on the best way to bring this about”.
Independent TD Mattie McGrath had a similar outlook and said the decision of the President to sign the Protection of Life Bill into law, “is on the one hand deeply regrettable but on the other hand it has now paved the way for legal challenges to commence”.
The Center for Reproductive Rights welcomed the President’s decision to pass the legislation that will provide doctors clarity about the circumstances under which a woman whose life is at risk may legally end a pregnancy. However, they called on the government to do more ”in order to fulfill women’s fundamental human rights to health and reproductive autonomy”.
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$7.9 million overall? Should have led with that!! Great for the Irish economy all the same – they should run another “Gathering” for politicians and Presidents!
And where did all that money go seeing as Ireland is in such a ‘bad state’ ?
The culchies in the towns where he visited still have their communion money for fecks sake. No chance of that money being recirculated
During a recent trip to China the first family and their staff of about 70 stayed in the presidential suite at the Westin Chaoyang Hotel, which USA Today reports costs about $8,400 a night. Clearly the elite live by a different standard and have for a long time. Obama sure knows how to spend taxpayers money.
Yes he does, 100′s of millions on vacations, 4000 calorie state dinners, the best of everything including medical. Meanwhile the little people struggle with multiple part time jobs, poor quality high cost Obama care and young people not being able to find work after college. But he’s on their side right? What a delusion.
It won’t be too long before Obama will introduce in special powers to ban the very books that were written to demonize Soviet Russia. The tables have turned 180° and Now the United States has become the very same totalitarian Communist state.
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