Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

It is appalling even to consider that a tragedy like this was allowed to happen. There can be no argument with the assertion by the late Ms Halappanavar's husband, Praveen, that what happened to her cannot be allowed to happen in this country again.

Earlier this year, I supported the Bill introduced by Deputy Clare Daly that might have prevented this tragedy from occurring, but unfortunately that Bill was defeated by the Government. While action is now too late for Savita and her family, it is not too late to protect other women from this horrific experience. The equal right to life for the mother and the unborn child must be acknowledged, and for that to happen we must take action immediately.

The Offences Against the Person Act 1861 is the law that governs this area. It imposes a penalty of penal servitude for life on a woman who procures an abortion, and provides that a medical practitioner who provides an abortion is guilty of a misdemeanour. There would of course be potential professional sanctions, up to and including being struck off. We are putting the patient and the practitioner in an impossible position by acknowledging the equal right to life but completely failing to create a mechanism to determine how that right can be vindicated. The European Court of Human Rights has categorically concluded that it cannot be left in the hands of the individual medical practitioner, guided by only Supreme Court judgments, to determine what does and does not constitute a real and substantial risk to the life, as distinct from the health, of the mother. I emphasise "as distinct from the health", as the difficulty lies with where one draws that line. We cannot even seek best international practice on this because it is widely acknowledged throughout the world that it is an extraordinarily difficult distinction to make.

Nothing can bring this beautiful young woman back to her family, but what we can do is to ensure no other woman suffers the same fate.

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