Marcella Corcoran Kennedy (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am pleased to have the opportunity to speak on this very important piece of legislation. I wish to state at the outset that I will be voting with my conscience and with the Government on this issue, as I do on every other issue. I wish to set out some facts which I hope will explain my reasons for doing so. However, before I do that I wish to say that a great deal of misinformation is in the public domain in respect of the Bill. Over the past year, I have met men and women both in Offaly and in Leinster House who have sought to discuss this issue with me. I have returned phone calls, e-mails and letters. In all cases, people outlined their genuine fears and I answered their questions truthfully and to the best of my ability, and was happy to do so. However, I have been disappointed by the actions taken by some individuals and groups opposing the Bill. Putting emotive slogans above photos of Fine Gael Deputies on posters along national primary and secondary routes, taking out full-page dramatic advertisements in local newspapers exhorting readers to contact local Fine Gael Deputies, with our names and telephone numbers located under inaccurate headlines and disturbing photographs, and sending bizarre newsletters, anonymous letters and e-mails, a minority of whose content is unspeakable, are just some of the tactics used in the campaign. We live in a democracy and people are entitled to lobby. However, I would imagine they will discover these methods are hardly the best way to achieve their aims. I am sure that in time their campaign strategy will be reviewed and I would be surprised if they did not realise quickly that diplomacy is how lobbying works best. Interestingly, some of their public exhortations worked in the sense that my constituency office telephone was very busy the day the advertisement appeared in the local newspaper. It worked from that perspective; however, the callers were ringing to express their disgust at the content and urge me not to be intimidated by it. Most significantly, every call was from a woman.

The first and most important aspect of the Bill is that it restates the general prohibition on abortionin Ireland. Its only aim is to place a legal framework on an already existing narrow provision created by Article 40.3.3° of the Constitution, which was interpreted by the Supreme Court in 1992 to allow for the lawful termination of a pregnancy where it is established as a matter of probability that there is a real and substantial risk to the life of the woman and that risk can be averted only by the termination of her pregnancy. The Bill remains strictly within the parameters of the Constitution and will not create any new rights.The medical termination of pregnancy will be permitted only under three circumstances in which there is a medically determined need: a real and substantial risk of loss of life from physical illness; a real and substantial risk of loss of life from physical illness in an emergency; and a real and substantial risk of loss of life from suicide. In each of these situations the doctor or doctors involved in the assessment will have to unanimously certify that a termination is the only treatment that will save the woman's life.

The risk of loss of life from suicide has caused much debate and it is worth pointing out that the Government has taken great care to introduce new safeguards in this area. Under the proposed legislation, four doctors- if the woman's GP is included - will be required to take part in the assessment process. Currently, the opinion of just one doctor is sufficient, as evidenced by the Medical Council's Guide to Professional Conduct and Ethics for Registered Medical Practitioners, published in 2009.The guide states:

21.1 Abortion is illegal in Ireland except where there is a real and substantial risk to the life (as distinct from the health) of the mother. Under current legal precedent, this exception includes where there is a clear and substantial risk to the life of the mother arising from a threat of suicide. You should undertake a full assessment of any such risk in light of the clinical research on this issue.

This area is completely unregulated by legislation at present. It is also worth pointing out that termination of pregnancy could be achieved by the safe delivery of the baby and not the termination of its life. I welcome the fact that the Bill also contains provisions to allow for conscientious objection by medical and nursing personnel. As an additional safeguard, the Bill contains review provisions to ensure the law is faithfully followed in this area.

I absolutely reject the suggestion made by some that women will pretend to be suicidal to obtain terminations. As a woman I find this suggestion objectionable. For many this Bill does not go far enough, particularly in the area of fatal foetal abnormality and pregnancies as a result of rape or incest. I sympathise sincerely with those who have experienced such trauma; however, as An Taoiseach clarified in the Dáil last week and again today, it is outside the scope of this legislation to deal with such issues.

As a woman and a parent, I am confident that the Bill will give legal clarity, which has been absent to date under Irish law, to women and their doctors. An unfortunate feature of this debate is that it is being argued in stark black and white terms. Having a baby is the most natural thing in the world but, as I know only too well, pregnancies can go wrong. In what are thankfully a small number of circumstances, that can pose a risk to the mother's life. The reality is that sometimes medical intervention is required to save a woman's life in pregnancy. A woman may have other children waiting for her to come home. She will mourn the loss of a much-anticipated baby and she may go on to have other children. The Constitution permits that. What the Bill seeks to do is to ensure clarity for women and medical professionals in respect of these existing rights. This strict legislation and regulations will outline the circumstances in which a medical termination is permissible - that is, where there is a real and substantial risk to the life, as opposed to the health, of a woman as the result of a pregnancy - and it upholds the equal right to life of both the mother and her unborn baby under the Constitution. I firmly believe that this Bill will protect the lives of both mothers and their unborn babies in the future.

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