Michael McNamara (Clare, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The right-to-life provisions, which are contained in practically every constitution in the world, require the criminalisation of the unlawful killing of human beings. The Irish Constitution is fairly unusual in that it affords an equal right to life to the unborn. If one criminalises the unlawful killing of people while giving the unborn an equal right to life, it is hard to see how one can vindicate it without prohibiting, on an equal basis, the killing of the unborn, regardless of who carries out the procedure, just as the provisions to criminalise unlawful killing do not differentiate between those who carry out such a killing. That is the context. Fourteen years is a life sentence, the sentence for murder. The sentence is not automatic in that it is "a term not exceeding 14 years". Therefore, judges will have discretion. I am just explaining the context.