Ms Claire Cullen-Delsol:

It is often assumed the decision to terminate is black and white; a person will do it or not, depending on what she wants. There are those of us who wish to avail of a termination of pregnancy but do not travel.

Many families and women in Ireland continue a pregnancy, not because it is the right thing for them to do but because the ordeal involved in ending a pregnancy under the current regime is too arduous. We may not be able to afford to do so. As Mr. Edwards stated, there are the costs of flights, which may involve up to three round trips, accommodation, the procedure, a post-mortem, cremation and transport home of the baby's remains. These may amount to as much as €4,000 for each couple, which is a substantial sum of money for most families. It is certainly a massive sum for my family. In most cases, these costs are prohibitive.

We may not be able to travel. We may simply not be able to face the stress of travelling and returning home without a bump or a baby. The emotional toll of travelling cannot be underestimated. Grief has many more facets than sadness. Anxiety, exhaustion, panic attacks and deep mistrust are all symptoms of complicated grief, which can make travelling through airports to foreign cities and in taxis and buses to a strange hospital impossible and much more traumatic than it may appear to an outsider. This was the greatest barrier for me, alongside the unbearable thought of leaving my two children in Ireland and then leaving their dead sister in England.

The stigma associated with travel is enormous. Many fear there will gossip and judgment and their family, friends or community will exclude or talk about them. This, along with the grief, is more than we can cope with. These are just some of the limitless number of reasons that travelling to end a pregnancy is not an option for everyone, even when we know a termination is the right thing for us, our baby and our family.

What happens to us in circumstance where we will not have a baby is that we are unable to travel and become trapped. We are in a nightmare scenario where we appear to be expecting a baby but are preparing for a massive loss. We are asked questions about our growing bump and people expect us to be happy about it. This is more than a woman can cope with. To avoid this, we isolate ourselves and hide. We go inside, lock the door and do not go out again. We suffer anxiety and nightmares and experience the ever-present knowledge that we are losing a baby alone. While we wait, we cannot lead normal lives and go to work, we struggle to take care of other children and all our relationships suffer massively. According to the eighth amendment, none of this matters because being alive is enough. It is not enough and it was not enough for me.

Pregnancy can affect our physical and mental health, even in previously healthy pregnancies where there are no foetal complications. However, when something goes wrong, whether it is a miscarriage, the woman's waters break or a foetal anomaly is detected, the risks to one's physical and mental health increase. Why is it that only our lives matter while we are pregnant? Why is it okay to completely ignore our physical and mental well-being? Does our well-being not matter when we are pregnant? Is it simply set aside and is it okay to be just alive? Whatever else we do with our laws, we need to ensure the normal duty of care to us, as living, breathing, functional members of society and as women and individuals, is never set aside.

When considering proposed changes to our laws, it is important that the committee also consider how women in Ireland will be protected and assured of access to information and services and have their safety and privacy protected. If abortion is legalised, it should be incorporated into current maternity care. Do not leave us out or continue to stigmatise and isolate us. It is important that lawful services are available to all pregnant women in Ireland, irrespective of where they live, how much they earn or how much money they have. This means that every maternity hospital, irrespective of its ethos, must be in a position to provide these services at all times. Health care should never be a black market product and no woman should ever be afraid to seek medical assistance for fear of arrest.

We respect and fully understand that some medical practitioners may object to carrying out abortions of any type on the basis of their own sincere beliefs. That is grand but we do not accept that this should ever be allowed to prevent a person from accessing the medical care he or she needs. The responsibility must be on every medical facility, regardless of ownership or ethos, to ensure the facility can and will provide procedures that are legal in this country. Conscientious objection should not be used in a manipulative manner to avoid taking care of some patients.

We also need to ensure protests, harassment of patients and the barring of access to medical facilities are not tolerated. We have seen what has been done in other countries and it cannot be tolerated here under any circumstances. Legally enforceable safe zones around medical facilities should be part of any legislation. These will be crucial to provide privacy and safety for patients, staff and visitors.

We hope we have been able to open a window into the unnecessary suffering the eighth amendment has inflicted on us and continues to inflict on other women at a time when they are at their most vulnerable and the diagnosis they receive should be the worst thing that has ever happened to them. We have provided much more detail in our main submission and we recommend that members take time to read the personal stories made available to the committee. None of us should have to reveal these intimate details to achieve change and we are grateful to those who have trusted us to submit their stories to the committee.

We hope we have been able to shine a light on how unworkable a gestational limit would be when addressing issues of foetal or maternal health. We are sure that by listening to our lived experiences and reading about how Ireland and its current laws added to our trauma, members will be in a much better informed position to consider the mature and compassionate recommendations made to them by citizens. We can only speak to the committee of our personal experiences. We know, however, that all women make decisions in these matters based on their private, personal and valid needs. We support all choices for everyone.

The committee has an opportunity to make a recommendation to the Government which recognises that we all make decisions around pregnancy and parenting in a mature and responsible manner. We trust that, having heard the expert evidence and lived experiences presented to it, the committee's recommendations will support us all in our decisions and look after us all when we need it.