Peter Mathews (Dublin South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will pick up a point mentioned by Deputy Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin.

I wish that this Bill was indeed the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill, to protect what is set out in the Constitution explicitly, that the value of life once it comes into being, whether born or unborn, is of equal value. To call this Bill restrictive is not enough. The Bill should be protective of both lives. As Deputies Mattie McGrath and Tóibín said, of course we do everything, and medicine is duty bound at every level to do everything, to save the life of a mother.

To use an analogy, the important part of a ship for safety on the seas is the hull. Section 9 of this Bill is a fault-line across its hull. The psychiatrists and obstetricians pointed that out at the hearings in May, which regrettably no Minister attended. That was a shocking chasm in the discussion and exploration of this Bill. In France 25% of pregnancies end in abortion and in Britain, 30%. That is the reality. We have heard other Members talk about realities. That is a shocking reality, the gift of life being snuffed out at a rate of 30% for every time it starts. Bad law is not good for a society. As a very experienced obstetrician pointed out, wars and famines come and go but abortion stays with a society and eats out its heart.

I said to the Minister earlier today that in the United States, which is the paragon of medicine, and Deputy Shortall is aware of this, 25% of medicine is iatrogenic, that means tidying up the mistakes and misdiagnoses of other doctors dealing with patients. A total of 25% is tidy-up, correction work by doctors. Just because a doctor holds certificates and degrees does not mean that they carry out the vocational work to which Deputy Mattie McGrath referred, or that they are on the look-out for the best interests of their patients, whether mothers, fathers, babies, teenagers or elderly people. Where does the respect for life come and go, begin and end? We talk about the foetus. Life begins at conception and ends in natural death. People who have lived their lives, whether powerful or powerless lives, deserve respect because they carry the gift of life by their very existence. I do not want to be party to any Dáil, or parliament or party that does not understand that.

My younger colleagues in our party are under a shocking stress at the moment. It is visible. They say they are going to vote with the party because they signed a pledge against their conscience. They have said that. That is absolutely perverse.

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