Sharon Keogan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am a little bit sorry to see this debate going the way it is at the moment, with neither colleague having respect for each other's view, which is a shame. This amendment provides an opt-out for general practitioners who do not wish their GP surgeries to automatically become a safe access zone by notifying the Minister of Health. We are aware that most GPs do not want to provide abortion and the majority are not offering abortions at the moment by exercising their right to conscientious objection. Therefore, I find the automatic inclusion under this Bill of all GPs, including those run by ardently pro-life doctors, as safe access zones to be bizarre and unfair. Consider, for example, a pro-life doctor whose practice is in his or her home or next door to his or her own home. Under the current legislation they would be in breach of the law if they put a pro-life sticker on their car or on their window. When a healthcare worker forms an opinion that abortion is not healthcare but is the ending of a life, it is wrong to compel that healthcare worker to perform an abortion against his or her will. It violates the Hippocratic oath of medicine.

Respecting doctors' rights to opt out should be acknowledged and supported by this Bill. If people are genuinely pro-choice, they should respect the doctor's right to opt out of this Bill. I find it astonishing because every day this Government seems to be so out of touch with what the public is asking it to do. Every single day, more and more the Government is moving away from the people it governs. I do not like this society we are becoming. I really do not.It only happens by talk, negotiations and by pleasing people along the way. The Minister does not seem to have made any effort to listen to the other voices in this. Also, he has failed to publish any evidence he has had from An Garda Síochána or any other advice he had.