Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

I support the amendment. We have also put down amendments opposing sections 5 and 6. What is the purpose of criminalising abortion? Presumably, it is to prevent people from carrying out dangerous abortions or charging people vast sums, which would be an incentive to work outside this Act. However, what is being proposed is free and universal access so the danger of that happening is not likely. There are two reasons this is wrong. Its chilling effect on doctors has been noted, but while the Minister does not intend to punish women or pregnant people themselves, he will also punish somebody who helps somebody have an abortion outside of the Act. Let us consider what that might mean in practice. Take a person whose doctor tells them they have gone past the 12 week period - we will not get into how they estimate the 12 week period, because that might not be 12 weeks gestation - that person is faced with going abroad or accessing abortion pills from safe websites such as Women On Web that is currently used.

If at 13 weeks someone helps a friend, sister or daughter to have an abortion using medical abortion pills from the Women on Website, which is an internationally recognised group of which there are also others, that person could be criminalised. It has happened in Northern Ireland where a mother was prosecuted for helping her own daughter. This is not preposterous. It would actually be safe to have an abortion at 13 weeks using a medical abortion pill which can be used up to 14 weeks. However, this would criminalise someone for doing that. The British Medical Association has just voted, I think for the first time, to decriminalise abortion in Britain where it remains a criminal offence outside the regulations. Doctors have also made that call in approximately 44 other countries. People are citing the great levels of support they have, but polls show that the majority of people do not think it should be a criminal offence. I echo that on the committee, this was not just about criminalising the person, it was about decriminalisation. I agree completely that it should be an offence dealt with under medical regulations. It can be done that way. However, criminalising doctors, potentially, will definitely put some people's health at risk where there is uncertainty about serious harm. There will be other cases that might be very dodgy too.