Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 6 November 2018

Select Committee on Health

Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage

11:00 am

Photo of Bríd SmithBríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

We want to be robust about this because we have been through a lifetime of experience of sinister and mean spirited elements trying to do down anyone who supports the right to choose and full access to women's health care. We have been through the movie in this country so many times. Even over the summer months so much time was wasted. We should have been dealing with this but cases were brought before the courts on very spurious grounds. We do not want any spurious grounds that will allow for court cases or the suing of the State or the Minister. Now is the time to tidy up our act, not after it happens.

I am just reminding everybody that there are sinister and unwelcome elements. The Minister spoke about good faith, all the experience they have and so on, but it is too nebulous. We need to be tight about these matters, particularly where there is a risk to the medical practitioners, the choice a woman makes, etc. That is the reason I find this wording very loose.

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