John Halligan (Waterford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I want to be very blunt without being offensive. I do not know if the Taoiseach has ever spoken to a woman who has been raped. I have several years ago. She spoke to me about how she felt after being violated, how she was continually showering and washing herself internally. It is inhuman and deeply offensive to tell a woman who has been violated and raped that she must present herself as being suicidal before she can have an abortion in Ireland. With all due respect, the Taoiseach’s answers are those which would have been given 20 or 30 years ago. This is 2013, a year in which hundreds of women are raped and violated.

I am sorry for being blunt but if it were the Taoiseach’s daughter or mother or if it were my daughter, mother or granddaughter who was raped and violated and became pregnant as a result, would we expect her to present herself as being suicidal in order for her to have a termination of her pregnancy? Worse still, would the Taoiseach expect a woman who has been violated to go through nine months of that pregnancy? Then she would probably become suicidal.

I ask everybody to reflect on this. I am not into derogatory remarks or being sensationalist about this particular Bill. This is an important issue as there is a section of women in society who every year are violated.

Some of them become impregnated as a result of that violation and they will still have to travel to England or present themselves as being suicidal. I consider that to be inhuman in 2013.

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