Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am glad and honoured to speak as a Sinn Féin representative in support of this Bill. I support X case legislation because I trust women. I support it because I feel uncomfortable that I, as man, can sit in judgment on the rights or lack thereof of a woman who is pregnant. I trust women and their doctors to make the best choice for them. I do not fear this.

The Bill is by no means perfect. In reality, it is a tiny step for the rights of women, yet it is a crucial one and should never have been in question in the first place. It was necessitated by tragedy and won by a hard, dignified and inspiring struggle by rights campaigners and those directly affected.

During Sinn Féin's Private Members' business on the X case last year, I paid tribute to those who had brought us to this stage. I recognise and respect that a Government is finally doing something about this situation. If we are truthful, though, it required nudging from higher powers to put this issue on the priority list. That nudging would never have happened without the long campaigning of a small dedicated few who faced down threats, abuse and vilification to win this day 21 years after the ruling on the X case and 30 years on from the so-called pro-life amendment. These people ploughed lonely furrows and received little thanks. Through their work, they have forced the State to move into the modern era, to begin to respect women and their rights and to protect them as equal citizens deserving of protection. In most cases, they were not simply campaigners for X, but for women's rights generally - divorce, contraception, equal pay, child care, marriage equality, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender, LGBT, rights and a better, more equal and just society. The people of Ireland owe these campaigners a debt and it will be them and those inspired by their legacy who will move Ireland forward in the coming years. I was proud and glad to stand with them on marches and at meetings and demonstrations. I stand with them today.

I was moved, angered and shocked by the plight of Ms X. That this young girl who had suffered so much could be treated so poorly and criminalised by her State and a section of society disturbed me greatly. I have never been naive about the way the State treats marginalised, vulnerable people. I have dedicated my life's work to changing this situation. Still, I found myself stirred.

Ms X was 13 years old when she became pregnant by her abuser. Her family in this very tragic situation decided to bring her to Britain to terminate the pregnancy. No one can truly understand what this must have been like for Ms X or her family. It is one of the most horrible circumstances that I can imagine. I hope that it happens incredibly rarely, but this hope is worthless in a society where one in four women will experience a sexual assault in her lifetime. There is little doubt that similar cases to that of Ms X have happened before and since and will unfortunately happen again.

What made Ms X unique was that, following a report to the DPP, the Attorney General callously pursued Ms X and issued an order banning her from travelling for nine months. In Ireland, it seems to this day that women's basic rights are conditional. Every year approximately 5,000 women travel to Britain to have an abortion. I recently read a heart-breaking article detailing all the things that might go through the mind of a woman who makes that decision. It is dizzying to read the difficult circumstances a woman in this situation already find herself. The big issues are actually a plethora of tiny issues which today especially starts with the question of affordability. This decision could easily cost €1,000 which is a great ask regardless of the motivation to seek an abortion. It is particularly monstrous to consider this being a concern for someone who has recently been raped or who has discovered the baby they hoped to bring into the world will never survive and will die in agony.

Ireland, and by this I mean we who are gathered here, because the Irish people are way ahead of us, must get serious about our responsibilities to women, all those women who have suffered this fate and those who every day are in danger of it because of the country in which they live.

I want to highlight my disgust at recent comments by Deputy Micheál Martin in an interview in TheJournalin which he suggested women who were raped and became pregnant should take the morning-after pill. His Government only saw fit to make the morning-after pill available by prescription in 2003 but, more to the point, Deputy Martin needs to wise up and learn to have a little compassion. The idea that a victim of the most heinous of crimes should, hours later, just buck up and get down to Boots, undergo a little questioning and pay - if she has the money - for the morning-after pill, is one lacking the most basic decency. I expect little from Fianna Fáil but I was disturbed and enraged by that statement. I am disappointed by that party's lack of leadership in response to this Bill.

Sinn Féin does not have a pro-choice position. By European standards we have a conservative stance on abortion. We do not dig our heads in the sand, however, and we recognise that things must change. Our position as a party is, I believe, roughly where the Irish people are. We have held this position for many years and recent polls clearly show that the majority of the Irish people agree.

Women must have access to termination if their lives are under threat, including by suicide, if they are victims of rape or if a substantial risk to health is apparent. This is the meaning of pro-life, a term that has been done a great disservice by those who send threats to Deputies and campaigners, picket family planning centres or poster the Rape Crisis Centre.

This Bill is obviously not enough. There will of course be proposed amendments and I look forward to seeing it improved, but I must highlight my concerns at this opportunity. The X ruling clearly states that the threat of suicide is a criterion under which a woman has the right to access termination of a pregnancy. This is a right utterly denied for two decades and attacked by Fianna Fáil when in government. That attack was rightly rejected by the people. The Government must trust women and doctors, and treat them with respect rather than with suspicion. It must provide for access to termination in the case of suicidality with the greatest level of understanding and humanity for the woman who is suffering. It must also recognise the reality of the Irish health system and the fact that hurdles, as included in this Bill, could easily result in this right being inaccessible in nearly all cases. That is against the spirit of the ruling and even the intention of this Government.

A lot has been said about abortion not being a treatment for suicidality, but this is a very thin argument. No one claims it is a treatment for enduring mental illness or suicidality and to argue that is preposterous. In these cases, where a woman wants to kill herself directly as a result of a pregnancy, rare or common, then doctors must act to save that woman in the same way they should act to save a woman experiencing life-threatening physical complications. To restrain a woman who is suicidal as a result of the despair brought on by an unwanted pregnancy and force her to carry that pregnancy to term is barbaric and unacceptable to any decent person.

The possibility of criminalisation of women who procure an abortion outside the law is also unacceptable. The fact that men are getting suspended sentences for brutal rapes while the Government is proposing a potential 14-year sentence for a woman procuring an abortion is shocking. This is a grave mistake by the Government and I strongly believe that it will see this in the coming stages. This section should be replaced.

We should not criminalise women. We must continue to push forward to a situation where women can be open about their experiences and know that they will not face persecution. That kind of situation can only be beneficial to our society, as well as how we treat women and how we view their rights.

The Government must end the injustice of forcing women, who have been told their child has a fatal abnormality and will not survive, to travel to England, have the remains shipped home or smuggled on the ferry. This should not even be a matter for debate. Groups like TFMR have made their case clearly and completely. Members of this House have directly experienced this tragedy. I hope this can be done now as part of the Bill.

Abortion is divisive in Ireland and many will say this in their comments, but the X case is not divisive. The people are behind us, they want a fair and humane approach to a woman's right to termination in these cases. The tiny minority opposed to this may be loud and many may be genuine in their concerns, but they should not be allowed to browbeat or scare us, or write the narrative that we must fear to do what is right. I will not be browbeaten and I will stand with anyone in this House who is targeted in this way. I wish to express my solidarity with Members who have been abused in this way. They have experienced only a small portion of the bile levelled at campaigners on this issue. It is unacceptable in a democratic society and cannot be allowed to influence the passage of just legislation which provides for the rights of women and for them to feel safe and to be protected.

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