Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy can have that view. The Deputy rightly asked me how to define serious harm. This is a rhetorical question but if one removes it, what is the health ground then? I am not being facetious about this because I do not believe any woman decides to have a termination lightly and nobody should attribute that to what I am about to say. However, I referred to the respiratory tract infection that could be treated satisfactorily in other ways. Out of respect to women in this discussion, we also must note that these are women who wish to have their babies. We cannot presume the default position here is, as some people did on the opposite side of the debate during the referendum campaign, that the woman would not want to have her pregnancy or would make these decisions lightly. It is beyond 12 weeks and it is probably a very much wanted pregnancy, but something has happened which means that continuing the pregnancy will risk the woman's health and the best way of resolving that risk is, sadly, a termination. That is the situation, not a broader ground.