Anne Ferris (Wicklow, Labour) | Oireachtas source

It has been said that victory has a thousand fathers but that defeat is an orphan. Today's victory is one for the mothers of Ireland, however bittersweet that may be. When I first heard of the barbaric procedure that is symphysiotomy or indeed, pubiotomy, I was appalled. I was appalled that when women were at their most vulnerable, some doctors and nurses in Irish hospitals conspired to violate them in a despicable manner. These women have fought for recognition for many years and the step we are taking tonight is only the first that is necessary to provide some measure of justice for them.

I have been to many meetings on this matter and discussed various legal and technical issues, but it has always been the personal stories that have been the most difficult to hear. I listened to one woman describe how, on an Easter Monday more than 50 years ago, she was taken for a "small operation" and left to recover for three days, without food, in a tiny darkened room. She described how she could not feel her legs, developed a clot and how since then, from the age of 29, she has suffered from chronic pain and bladder infections. I listened to another woman who underwent the procedure without anaesthesia, with no explanation or options discussed. She spoke of the irony of having to fill out a form to get internal stitches. She assumed that her baby had died and was not allowed to see him for two days. For six months thereafter she was obliged to depend on her family to look after her and her baby.

These are but two stories of young women who were seen as ideal candidates for medical experimentation, which is what symphysiotomy was. As the Survivors of Symphysiotomy group says, powerful Catholic doctors saw symphysiotomy as a gateway to childbearing without limitation, unlike caesarean section, which was seen to cap family size and to lead to family planning, of which they disapproved. Once a caesarean, always a caesarean. This was a general medical belief, with four births deemed to be the upper safety limit.

These women were denied their right to self determination and bodily integrity and their right to refuse medical treatment. Laws governing medical experimentation on human subjects were flouted. It is now time for the State to act in a way that serves the best interests of all of these women who we have previously failed. I hope for speedy progress on the matter and a resolution that meets the needs of the women. There are representatives of victims, women who have undergone symphysiotomy and others who have worked to highlight this issue in the Visitors Gallery this evening. I commend them for their courage and I regret that it has taken us so long to get where we are today. I would also like to make special mention of Deputy Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin, who spearheaded the work of the all-party group and thank him for all the work he has done on this to date. I would also like to say that we are not giving up.

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