Dublin, Ireland, Nov 26, 2019 / 13:30 pm
A pending land transfer from a religious community to the Irish government for the construction of a new maternity hospital has sparked new controversy, as the hospital is expected to perform abortions under new laws permitting the procedure.
The Religious Sisters of Charity currently own the land that is set aside for a $335 million taxpayer-funded National Maternity Hospital. The facility will be built on the campus of St. Vincent's Hospital in Dublin. The sisters announced two years ago that they were planning to transfer ownership of three local hospitals, including St. Vincent's, to a group that will no longer follow Catholic medical ethics.
In a May 2018 referendum, Irish voters repealed a constitutional amendment recognizing the right to life of unborn children as equal to mothers' right to life. Legislators then enacted legislation allowing abortion through 12 weeks of pregnancy, or later in "exceptional circumstances."
Some Catholics are now arguing that in light of the referendum, the sisters should not go through with the land transfer.