Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I understand that but I am making the point about the failure to specify that the Bill is about protecting maternal life, which is at stake.

It is the thing that prompted the tragedy of Savita Halappanaver’s death. It is the thing that prompted the tragic circumstances in which a 14 year old rape victim was denied the right to an abortion. These circumstances could happen again, even if the legislation passes. Were X in the same situation again, it is likely that she would not have the right to an abortion as she would be put through such a terrible interrogation. It is almost certain that no woman in her circumstances would even attempt to put herself through the hoops the Bill requires her to jump through.

The Bill does not provide the medical certainty doctors require to intervene decisively to protect the lives of women like Savita Halappanaver and others whose lives may be endangered by the continuation of a pregnancy. The Government has made a fudge between its need to assuage dissent from those within its ranks who are opposed to abortion and the legal imperative to vindicate the lives of women. As a result, women's lives have not been vindicated. The Bill should have been referred to as a Bill to protect maternal life. That is the point of the amendment. Similarly, there is a reference in the definitions section of the Bill to the need to have due regard to the right to life of the unborn in relation to the reasonable opinion of a medical practitioner. There is no mention of the need to have due regard to the life of the mother. It is all about assuaging the opposition of the anti-abortion lobby to the Bill as a whole and to prevent defections. That is tragic. It is a recipe for further human tragedies and for putting life and health at risk. People who have suicidal thoughts because of pregnancy are having their lives put at risk. That is unacceptable.

I hope the Minister will take seriously the concerns being expressed and the amendments being tabled and change the Bill. Otherwise, we will be back here within weeks, months or years, faced with tragedies which have resulted from the political failure of the Government to deal properly with the issue.

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