The Children’s Minister James Reilly has said a referendum on the eighth amendment should be held early in the term of the next government. Speaking to the Sunday Independent, Fine Gael’s deputy leader said women carrying babies with fatal foetal abnormalities should not be forced to carry on with their pregnancy: "Most repugnant to me is that they have to leave the country for a termination and then sneak back in like criminals to bring their babies' remains back. "I can't countenance, either as a doctor or a human being, the situation that women find themselves in relation to fatal foetal anomalies and the nightmare they have to live on a daily basis," he said. "People asking: 'When is the baby due? Is it a boy or girl? Have you got the cot yet? Is the room ready?' Knowing that this baby has no chance of survival." The doctor also added that he thinks it’s "very difficult to ask a woman who has been raped and violated to continue to carry a child." The eighth article – which was brought in following a referendum in 1983 and is current law – gives equal right to life to a mother and her unborn child. Minister Reilly’s comments add further pressure to Taoiseach Enda Kenny, who has yet to give similar commitment to holding the referendum. The comments come just days after Irish doctors signed an open letter calling for the decriminalization of abortion. The letter, which was published by Amnesty International, was signed by a number of Irish healthcare professionals and states that the lives of women and girls are at risk "when abortion is criminalized".