Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

The Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill 2013 makes the very narrowest possible provision for termination of pregnancies in Ireland and only in extreme cases where the woman's life is in very grave danger. In drafting this legislation, the preservation of the Fine Gael Parliamentary Party took precedence in the minds of many members of the Cabinet over the real needs of women in crisis pregnancies in this country. On any reading of the Bill it is clear that the Government did the absolute minimum to try to say it has legislated for the exigencies that arose after the Supreme Court decision on the X case in 1992 and, subsequently, the demands of the European Court of Human Rights following the cases of problem and crisis pregnancies it dealt with.

Section 8 of the Bill, entitled "Risk of loss of life from physical illness in emergency", is the only section of the Bill that is clear-cut, satisfactory and as it should be. It provides for an immediate decision by a medical practitioner who believes there is a grave threat to the life of a pregnant woman. One hopes this will remove the "chilling effect" that the European Court of Human Rights spoke about regarding the fear on the part of doctors of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861, which provides for life imprisonment for a person who carries out an abortion. The court referred to the case taken by Ms C, who was unable to obtain, in Ireland, proper information on the impact of pregnancy on her health and life as she was suffering from cancer at the time.

Much more than this is needed by women. There should be a very clear provision regarding inevitable miscarriage, which is not catered for in the Bill. That came very tragically to light and to the nation's attention in the case of Savita Halappanavar. It should be legislated for and provided for in this Bill. Pregnancies involving foetal abnormalities that mean the foetus is non-viable and cannot survive are not dealt with either. That is shameful and cowardly, particularly in view of the harrowing testimonies of women who have been in the dreadful situation of finding they had to make a decision on the termination of non-viable pregnancies. This morning in the Dáil the Taoiseach was trying to express understanding of women in this horrific situation but failed to do so.

He referred to women he knew whom he said had taken a decision to carry to term - that is, of course, an absolute right, one that should be assisted and resourced - but, equally, he refused point blank to see the rights of women or couples who did not want to do this and did not want to be subjected to the awful trauma of continuing in an horrific situation that they simply wanted to end. It is shameful that women are forced to leave this country every year to deal with this issue. The figure for fatal foetal abnormalities is given as approximately 1,500 a year, a substantial figure. When one considers the number of women in this traumatic situation who make the decision to leave the country, the trauma and the alienation of having to leave home, to leave their support base, their family and most of their loved ones and the significant costs involved, it is heartless and the issue should be catered for in this legislation.

Even worse, under the Bill a woman who finds herself in this situation, who wants to deal with the issue and have a termination of an unviable pregnancy in Ireland will be criminalised and subject to 14 years imprisonment under section 22; likewise, a doctor who assists her. Section 22(3) states a prosecution of an offence under this section may be brought only by or with the consent of the Director of Public Prosecutions. This is an attempt to avoid an X case scenario developing where the prosecution of a woman might come out of the blue, take a Government and a whole system by surprise, as the X case did in a different circumstance. There would be consternation in society and the same opposition and horror would be expressed among a majority of people such as happened when the X case came to light and a child was ordered to be interned on this island for a period of time to prevent her from having a termination following a rape. What the Government is attempting to do in the Bill is two-faced; it is an attempt to satisfy, on the one hand, the strong opponents of abortion by stating it is criminalising abortion and taking a tough stance and then, on the other, by involving the Director of Public Prosecutions as a kind of safety net, it is stating to people who are in favour of the right to a termination that it really will not happen, that it would not get by the Director of Public Prosecutins, but it could. For my part and that of the Socialist Party, we will have to consider this issue very carefully. To vote for this kind of criminalisation would be reprehensible to us. I am of a mind to abstain in the vote on Second Stage on the basis that this criminalisation should be removed. With others, I will be tabling amendments to seek to have it removed in the course of Committee and Report Stages. If it is not removed, we will have to carefully consider our attitude in the final vote. I would vote for the Bill otherwise, even with its hugely restrictive nature, but criminalising women in this way is barbaric and cannot be countenanced.

Just how restrictive the provisions of the Bill are can be seen on reflection, particularly with regard to suicidal women. How many women in this traumatic situation will run the gauntlet, first, of three medical practitioners - two psychiatrists and one obstetrician - and then three more if they have to appeal? It is not going to happen in the majority of cases involving such trauma. Because of the stress and trauma involved, most will opt to go abroad, about which there is no doubt. The idea that this provision will allow what opponents call abortion on demand, which is an inappropriate term to use as if a woman looks for an abortion as if she were walking into a shop, is offensive. It is farcical. In fact, what will happen is that women will decide to go to England. Similarly, I believe women pregnant by rape who want to end that pregnancy should be catered for. Rape is an horrific violation of a woman and forcing her to carry through to term a resulting pregnancy is barbaric.

I believe the health of a woman is not catered for at all in the Bill. The health of a woman should be a factor and on which she makes a choice. Thousands of women from this state travel to Britain, mainly, every year to secure a termination of pregnancy. The view that it is hypocritical was criticised in an earlier contribution, but it is hypocritical because if England or some other jurisdiction was not there and we had had the horror of back street abortions and women dying or being horribly mutilated as a result, the issue would, of necessity, have been dealt with much earlier.

I stand for the right of a woman to make her choice and for that choice to be respected. That is my position on the issue of termination of pregnancy. When I was a child, in rural Ireland we used to hear disdainful talk of pagan England, even as 1 million of our penniless young men and women found homes and lives there. Similarly, in this case, it is an English solution to an Irish problem.

Sa chúpla nóiméad atá fágtha agam, ba mhaith liom a rá go bhfuil an Bille um Chosaint na Beatha le linn Toirchis, 2013 ró-chúng amach is amach. Ní théann an Bille fada go leor chun déileáil leis na cásanna crua ina bhfaigheann an-chuid mná sa tír seo iad fhéin gach bliain, maidir le toirchis ina bhfuil dainséar don bhean. I gcás féatas mínormálta nach féidir fanacht ina bheatha, measaim go bhfuil sé barbartha iachall a chur ar mhná dul go dtí deireadh théarma an toirchis. Ba cheart go mbeadh cabhair éigin leagtha amach sa Bhille atá romhainn mar fhreagra ar an ngéarchéim seo. Dá bhrí sin, ba cheart dúinn leasú a dhéanamh ar an reachtaíocht seo chun na cásanna áirithe sin, agus cásanna difriúla eile, a chlúdach. Measaim freisin gur cheart go mbeadh sláinte na mban chun tosaigh. Ba cheart freisin tús áite a thabhairt do chinnithe na mban maidir leis an méid a theastaíonn uathu i gcásanna toirchis i ngéarchéim. Chomh maith leis sin, tá mé go mór in aghaidh gníomh coiriúil a dhéanamh d'aon cinneadh a dhéanann bean deireadh a chur le toircheas sa Stát seo, go mórmhór os rud é go bhfuil sé i gceist téarma príosúnachta de 14 bliain a ghearradh ar an mbean sin agus ar aon dochtúir a chabhraíonn léi. Dá bhrí sin, tá an-chuid leasuithe le déanamh. Déanfaimid iarracht iad a dhéanamh ar Chéim an Choiste agus ar Chéim na Tuarascála, agus ansin chífimid.

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