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 Clare DalyClare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Deputy Fitzpatrick is correct. The decision to have an abortion is a serious one, which people take seriously. Our amendment does not seek to replace the examination; it proposes to add another. Nobody says there should not be an examination but there are issues about what "examination" means. It gives a connotation of that physical issue. The views of the person at the heart of this, whose health is at risk and who is deciding that risk, are important. Somebody aged 42 or 43 who has just found out about a wanted pregnancy late in years might be told by the doctor that if she goes ahead, there is a risk to her health. That woman might weigh it up and decide it is a risk she is willing to take. A younger woman, however, with children at home might think about it and decide she did not want to take it. The views of the person at the heart of situation, whose health is up for grabs, are critically important. We need to put that in the Bill and have it reflected there because it is personal to whomever is the heart of it. It is a worthy addition that makes the Bill more woman-centred.

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