Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I do not think anybody in this room or anyone engaged in a serious way in this debate wants to put the life of a mother at risk but I come back the Minister's acknowledgement that there is an equal right to life. I suppose this question needs to be posed in the context of vindicating the right to life of the mother. Should this committee, in the context of framing this legislation, not explore the possibility of developing a way which provides for equality of life for the unborn child, without comprising the right to life of the mother?

I do not favour the point made by the former Director of Public Prosecutions in the context of legal representation. However, it is worth exploring this possibility, although not in the form the Minister of State expressed of a forensic cross-examination by a medical advocate. However, having certified that this entitlement exists medically, there is a question then of the advocate for the unborn child being involved in the management of the case to see how one could get to a situation, without compromising either the mother's or the unborn child's constitutional rights, where equality of life can be delivered for the unborn child.