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

It is some ten and a half hours since I made a short contribution on these proposals. I preface my comments tonight by reminding everyone - in which I include myself - that life is an extraordinary gift and that mothers and babies are extraordinarily valuable human beings. The Constitution recognises that in Article 40.3.3°. The problem, if it is a problem, is to interpret that article in a way that is mindful of the enormously sacred or valuable lives in existence. Of course, medicine in all its disciplines should do everything possible to support and care for the life of a mother at risk. There is no question about that.

As we heard from Deputy Billy Timmins and others, we have come a long way in understanding what psychiatry has shown us. We know by the overwhelming evidence, and we cannot afford to avoid that evidence, that a threat or intent of suicide is not medically dealt with or treated by a termination of pregnancy that could end in the destruction of the life of a baby or damage to that baby. The evidence in that regard to the Oireachtas committee was overwhelming. We would be absolute fools to create some sort of legal labyrinth which says that the only way to avert that intent or risk to the life of the mother is to legislate or make it lawful to end that other life.

We should have listened to the voices of some of the women who have had abortions. They asked to present their testimony in a gentle and educational way, to offer a sharing of their experience before their abortion, at the time of the abortion and afterward, and how it has since affected their lives and their family's lives, including their husbands or partners and their other children. We declined to allow them to tell us their stories. That is quite weird, in my book.

The Minister said that this debate has been fulsome, that it has charged most of us and made us look into the corners of our conscience and knowledge, to find out more, listen more and read more. Yet I can see that my own colleagues are full of angst, anxiety and worry about this, because it is a very serious thing. It is the fabric of our country, our people and our culture. It is the fabric of our faith in humanity, even if there is not faith in Christianity or, for that matter, in Islam. After all, Islam does not like abortion or anything to do with this Bill. We can selectively choose which bits of social consciousness we will discuss, accommodate, trim, prune back or whatever, but it is clearly not good when so many people are angst ridden.

It hurt and saddened me - I felt empty, in fact - when one of my colleagues said earlier today that having spoken to the Taoiseach for an hour and a half yesterday - and that was not the first such meeting - and also to the Minister for Health for an hour, and despite being dissatisfied with the answers she received to her proposals and questions, she decided nevertheless to vote for the Bill so that she is not thrown out of her party. That is unbelievable. If any of my children did that, I would ask them, please, to look into what they are doing and how they do it. I hope everyone here would say the same to their own children. It is wrong to have this type of coercion. If a company treated senior, respected employees who have given a lot of professional input to their firms in a similar manner, employees who have informed themselves and read, studied, listened and looked into a particular matter at hand, it would be equally wrong. It is wrong, plain and simple.

If we feel that something is not right, we must acknowledge it. If it does not feel right then there is probably something wrong about it. As I said earlier, the hull of a ship is what gives that ship and all on it their safety. It does not matter what amendments one does in terms of lifeboats or lifejackets or beacon lights and all the things we have been discussing in recent days, including what happened to the poor Bolger brothers and all of that. Will the beacon lights work if someone falls into the water? This is about future children, little babies. Let us make this a better country so that women do not have to go to England, France or America, 4,500 of them every year. I hear people saying these women have to go to England; they do not have to go. We should gather them up and give them support, give them money, give them encouragement.

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