Peter Fitzpatrick (Louth, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I will speak to the amendments generally first and then move them individually later.

The Minister appears to think the Bill protects freedom of conscience, but that is not true. Conscientious objection appears to be provided for in the Bill, but on closer inspection, it disappears completely. Freedom of conscience is a vital human right according to the European Court of Human Rights. A person's conscience claims can be religious or non-religious. What matters is that his or her conscience may lead him or her to object or refuse based on his or her deeply held religious, moral, ethical or philosophical beliefs to do or assist in certain things. The best known example is conscientious objection to military service. During the years many people have objected to serving in the armed services or fighting in wars owing to an objection to taking human life.

Many doctors, if not most, are guided by the principle to first do no harm. The idea of intentionally taking human life will be abhorrent for them. Furthermore, the assisting in taking a human life is essentially the same as directly taking it. In the case of abortion the process involves the ending of a human life - there is no ambiguity in this - and after more than 50 years of abortion practices in the UK we see that it clearly involves the intentional destruction of a developing life.

In the Bill the Minister, Deputy Harris, states: "A person who has a conscientious objection [...] shall, as soon as may be, make such arrangements for the transfer of care of the pregnant woman concerned as may be necessary to enable the woman to avail of the termination of pregnancy concerned." In effect this obliges the doctor to ensure that an abortion is carried out by requiring him or her to make arrangements with another doctor who will perform the abortion. The fact that the conscientious objector is obliged by law to set up an arrangement to enable a woman to obtain an abortion has been overlooked in the discussions on the Government's abortion plan, as discussed with the Chairman earlier.

The Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, has made no intent to engage or consult with general practitioners prior to publishing the legislative plan. Clearly, however, he now wants the new abortion services in Ireland to be GP led. Abortion is not healthcare in any meaningful sense. The intentional destruction of an unborn child is not a therapy, nor is it a recommended treatment for any complication that may arise in pregnancy. Many GPs will be deeply uncomfortable with the ending for no reason of an otherwise healthy pregnancy. Many Irish people will be deeply uncomfortable with the idea that the local GP practice has developed into an abortion clinic on abortion referral services.

Irish doctors should not be forced by law to choose between their job, their business and their reputation on the one hand, and their conscience on the other. These amendments reflect the concerns expressed to us by more than 600 GPs in recent days. We can look at each amendment individually but the key point is that without removing the obligation to make arrangements for abortions we will find ourselves engaged in a massive attack on the rights of our doctors.