Ciara Conway (Waterford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I offer my condolences to the family of Savita and particularly her husband in the aftermath of such a tragic case in Galway University Hospital. The country is shocked and grieving since we learned this tragic news. We have been told that Savita died in agony after begging the doctors for help but was refused the necessary treatment while the foetus had a heartbeat. When the news of the story broke, every woman in the country thought that it could be her. Never has the inhumanity of our abortion law been so starkly exposed. While quite shocking and infuriating, I am sad to say it is not surprising. Many of us who are advocates of women's health have always expected that our restrictive and inhumane abortion regime would someday result in the death of a woman. Although we await the outcome of the HSE investigation, we have been told that Savita asked for intervention by the hospital to terminate her pregnancy and that this was allegedly denied. This ambiguity or grey area is avoidable. The blame for this, the circumstances in which vulnerable pregnant women find themselves, and the solution lie solely in this House. Last week, I listened to the story of a woman who was told to read between the lines and to head to England when she found out that her much wanted baby would not survive and that her health was deteriorating. The heartbreaking stories of the shame, lack of support and coldness with which women find out that their babies may have a fatal foetal abnormality and the way they are treated in the Irish health system is unacceptable in this day and age.

As legislators, we have spent 20 years colluding in making already difficult circumstances unbearable. We have colluded in making the country inhumane for women. We have colluded in taking the dignity and limiting the access to safe health care for women in the country.

Deputy McDonald states that we should no longer prevaricate on this issue. I invite her and her party colleagues to examine their own inaction on the matter over the past 20 years. A party that prides itself on being an all-Ireland party, and is in power in the North under the leadership of Martin McGuinness, has resisted attempts to bring any part of the UK abortion law to Northern Ireland. Five of the Sinn Féin Deputies abstained on the vote on Deputy Clare Daly's Bill.

The Labour Party is the only party to have asked for legislation to end this inequality and mistreatment of women's health. We did so in our general election manifesto of 2002 and in every subsequent manifesto. We have often been targeted by other parties. It is perceived by them as a weakness to be exploited for their own political gain. We, the candidates and grassroots members of the Labour Party, went door to door. We stood our ground on the need for legislation on this issue. We were right then and we are right now. For the first time in this debate, which has stretched over two decades, a Government has put in writing its commitment to make a decision on this issue. I welcome that.

The report of the expert group will be published on Tuesday, 27 November and I understand that, with the agreement of the Whips, a debate will ensue shortly after that. I ask every Deputy to read the Government amendment. For the first time, a Government is committed to dealing with this issue.

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