Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

I want to reiterate that with the key amendments in this tranche we want to end the invidious distinction made in legislation between the health and the life of a woman. We seek to include health as a key factor in legislation that provides the right to a termination of pregnancy. There is no chasm in real life between life and health. To insist on a threat to life as the only justification for a termination of a pregnancy can put women in a dangerous situation and it is certainly a highly invidious situation because an issue in pregnancy that presents purely as a health issue at the beginning, can go over to a life-threatening situation. As we have seen in tragic instances life was lost because it was not possible to meet the threat to health with a termination at an earlier stage in the process. The Minister cites the constitutional prohibition against us on this issue. I say go to the people with a constitutional amendment to remove the absolute prohibition except in the very narrow circumstances that have been laid down by the Supreme Court. My point about the opinion polls, which show huge majorities in support of the right to a termination in crucial areas of foetal abnormalities, rape and so on, was to show that the opinion of our people has moved on hugely in this regard and therefore to do justice to that. There should in fact be not just an extension in this legislation but a constitutional amendment to cater for this opinion.

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