News, Top ethicist delivers damning opinion on Children's Referendum

23 October 2012: A top ethicist has delivered a damning opinion on the amendment proposed in the Children's Referendum in the Republic of Ireland.

Fr John Fleming Ph.D., professor of bioethics at the Southern Cross Bioethics Institute (Adelaide, Australia), a foundation member of UNESCO's International Bioethics Committee, and a corresponding Member of the Pontifical Academy for Life, delivered the opinion on behalf of European Life Network, led by Patrick Buckley and based in Dublin. Full text: http://europeanlifenetwork.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/bioethical-opinion-on-implications-of.html

In his opinion, Dr Fleming said: "It is difficult to see how the present Constitutional arrangements are not fit for purpose. The rights of the family and the child are already safeguarded". The proposed amendment, according to Dr Fleming "represents a dramatic ideological shift in both emphasis and practice", "provid[ing] a beachhead by the state into what has traditionally been the preserve of the rights of parents in the upbringing of their children."

Dr Fleming concluded that the "amendment, if passed, could potentially be a disaster for Irish families" and calls upon Ireland's Catholic bishops "to do all they can to persuade the Irish people that such a constitutional change is not in the best interests of Irish families ".

For more information, contact Pat Buckley on +353 872578250 or patrick@europeanlifenetwork.org

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