Lynn Ruane (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I had some planned questions, but I am the most confused I have ever been in terms of trying to understand some of the comments from Professor Binchy.

I am struggling to understand how the witness can ask this committee to get real about the inherent right to life that foetal life or the unborn child has but then say he does not think the right to travel should be taken out of the Constitution. What does the witness see as an unborn child having an inherent right to life? Which one should be protected? He replied to Deputy O’Connell that he does not believe the right to travel should be taken out. He is saying some people should be able to travel. In reality it is quite an elitist view of an inherent right to life. Is it only those in minority groups? What unborn children actually have that right if it will not be protected at all costs? This inherent right to life makes the whole argument incoherent.

The presentation started with a list of premises and a conclusion. As a philosophy graduate of logic, premise No. 1 fell down when it said that foetal life and human life have an equal right to life. Everything else fell from thereafter for me.

I agree with the presentation on disability down to the last sentence. While I agree with the first part, what about the right to life of people, the child or young girl with a disability who needs to access abortion but cannot travel in some situations due to a disability? When one talks about the rights of someone with a disability, one is not talking about foetal life and a possible disability they will have, one is talking about a person in the world. Will Ms Zampas elaborate on that in a human rights context? If the unborn child has a significant foetal abnormality that is not likely to result in death before or shortly after birth, how can the State's duty to combat discrimination against disabled people be balanced against its duty to ensure women have access to abortion? Are they comparable in the sense that when we talk about discrimination against disabled people, we are in fact not talking about foetal life?