Renua Supports the 8th

Renua Ireland leader John Leahy has made a strong defence of the Constitution's 8th Amendment. Speaking after a party training meeting in Dublin he said that the efforts to remove the 40.3.3 from the constitution are “a misguided attempt to treat some babies differently, to establish a class of infants with less rights. This is the opposite to equality and fairness”

In March Renua Ireland announced a list of six core party principals and Number 4 on that list is that the party is Pro-Life. The party's letter to its members explains “Renua believes that the 8th Amendment is a secular human rights issue as it protects the human rights of the unborn child. The Party strongly supports the 8th Amendment.”

Renua's commitment came after what Party Leader Cllr John Leahy says was a “long, comprehensive engagement with our core beliefs”. He explains that “Renua members asked what it was we stood for, what did we want from politics”.

The party's commitment to the defence of the Eight means, according to that letter, “Party candidates and elected representatives will be required to subscribe fully to our position on this matter”, ruling out any repeal candidate standing for Renua. This position on Abortion puts Renua at odds with every other political party in Ireland, a fact thy seems to please Leahy.   “I'm very glad our members came to this conclusion. Abortion is barbaric. To suggest that the best we can do for any mother and child is to kill a human being is confession of shocking failure. If we are different to other political party's, it is a difference of which we can be proud.”

Deputy Party Chairman Michael O'Dowd was scathing of the use of the term “Fatal Foetal Abnormality”, describing it as “language designed to rob sick child of his or her humanity and right to life”. He says that the use of the term is not a medical diagnosis and should be regarded as badly as any pejorative term used to demean a victimised group. “There are words we cannot and should not use to belittle gays' blacks, travellers, in the same way Fatal Foetal Abnormality should never be used about a child” he said.

Renua's other core principals include putting the taxpayer first, rewarding entrepreneurship and a victim-centred crime policy which would put the interests of the victims of crime at the centre of the justice system.

There was a mixture of support and condemnation on social media for Renua's decision. An abortion supporter described the decision as having been taken by “a tiny fringe group of bead-rattling weirdos and swivel-eyed neo-liberal whack jobs”, but many pro-life commentators welcomed the news.