Irish MEPs have been drawn into a bitter dispute in the European Parliament over the rights and wrongs of abortion.
The Party of European Socialists (Pes) has criticised Fianna Fáil MEP Seán Ó Neachtain and independent MEP Kathy Sinnott for signing a declaration urging Portuguese people to vote no in a referendum on Sunday on whether to liberalise abortion.
The declaration, tabled by the Portuguese conservative MEP José Ribeiro E Castro, refers to the "devastating individual, social and demographic effects the liberalisation of abortion in some of our countries has had". It urges the Portuguese not to choose a "path of false responses to complex problems" by voting for a proposal to allow abortions in the first 10 weeks of pregnancy.
In Portugal, the right to abortion is limited to rare cases of rape, a deformed foetus or danger to the health of the mother.
Socialist MEP Zita Gurmai, president of the women's committee in the Pes, has written to the 51 MEPs who have signed the declaration, asking them to justify some of the highly questionable assertions made in the declaration.
"I notice that 80 per cent of the MEPs who signed are men. But it is even more astonishing that some women MEPs want to deny Portuguese women the right that they themselves have," she said.
Mr Ó Neachtain rejected the criticism and said he wanted to show support for Mr Castro's declaration.
Ms Sinnott said she signed the declaration after she was told that the Danish parliamentary committee on women's rights was campaigning for a yes vote.
Labour MEP Pronsias De Rossa said he had signed a separate declaration urging Portuguese people to vote yes to liberalising abortion. Opinion polls show that support for new legislation exceeds those wanting to keep a ban.