Update on ‘the Shatter Bill’
[i.e. the Revised General Scheme of the Children and Family
Relationships Bill 2014]
–– it will serve neither
children nor mothers
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYttGqC53Zd5E9AuG8rWsC11s6XdBOoIh_fR_eDwfX-jdoxp-zJuebZpFfotf2yc4mr8C4trHXSYii_QHubjy8a8-o_OEyCSIGVbsHyJS70u6DX7s3VEohyphenhyphenRFQiVwgD1vfdmV7rH0jvYU/s1600/Family.jpg)
[Part 1, Head 2:
Interpretation (1), (2)]
· The revised General Scheme would
discriminate between the biological father and the biological mother by
persisting in the contested principle that the woman who gives birth is the
legal mother. [Part 3: Head 10, (3), (4)]
· The revised General Scheme pre-empts the
judgement of the Supreme Court on the appeal by the Government against the
Abbott judgement [The High Court, March 5, 2013]. The Abbott judgement
acknowledges the right of the genetic mother to be recognized as the legal
mother. [Part 2, Parentage and
Presumption of Paternity, Head 5: Parentage (2)]
· The revised General Scheme, by allowing
adoption and custody of children by non-marital couples, cohabiting couples,
not excluding same-sex couples, disregards its own stated principle of ‘Best interests of the child’ by
ignoring the evidence that children living in the care of such couples, are 8
times more likely to be harmed than children living with married biological
parents [Abuse, Neglect, Adoption and
Foster Care Research, National Incidence Study of Child Abuse and Neglect (NIS-4),
2004-2009, March 2010, (Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation)]; and are
50 times more likely to die of injuries, than children residing with two
biological parents [P. G. Schnitzer, ‘Child death resulting from
inflicted injuries: household risk factors and perpetrator chararcteristics’, Pediatrics 116 (2005) 687-93.] [Part 3, Head 10: Parentage in cases
of assisted reproduction using eggs, sperm or in vitro embryos provided by donors; Part 7, Head 37 Best interests
of the child]
· The revised General Scheme is an attempt to
legislate, by the back door, for Assisted Human Reproduction including In Vitro Fertilization [IVF]. IVF, as
ordinarily practised, relies on the foreseen wastage of 96% of human embryos
conceived in vitro [i.e. ‘on glass’]. When more
than 1 embryo is implanted in a woman, and when that woman is
somewhat older, she is advised to have at least one of the extra embryos aborted,
as it is claimed that the procedure poses a risk to her health and her life. A recent
Chinese study has confirmed the strong link between abortion and breast cancer
[‘A meta-analysis of the association between induced abortion and breast
cancer risk among Chinese females’, Cancer
Causes Control, November 24, 2013]. [Part
4 Safeguards to Preserve the Child’s Identity in Cases of Assisted
Reproduction Using Donor Gametes, Head
12, (2), (3)]
Issued by the Alliance for the Defence of
the Family and Marriage [ADFAM]
www.adfam.ie