Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 7:

In page 6, lines 12 and 13, to delete “, in relation to a pregnant woman, means a medical procedure which is intended to end the life of a foetus” and substitute “means induced abortion to end a pregnancy using a medical or surgical procedure”.

When I spoke on Second Stage, I was clear about my opposition to the use of the language of the eighth amendment. I was disappointed to see some of that language replicated in this legislation. We will all give our own version of what the people of Ireland said on 25 May, but no one would dispute that they said they did not want the eighth amendment.

My amendment's purpose is to ensure that a more appropriate and less stigmatising definition of "termination of pregnancy", one that uses neutral language, is used in the Bill. The definition proposed in the legislation reintroduces the language of the eighth amendment. No matter one's view or what side one was on, the people made how they felt about the eighth amendment clear, in that they wanted it gone. It is now gone, so I do not see why we should be replicating its language in this legislation.