Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Second, the legislation recognises the rights of the unborn and the rights of the mother and seeks to have the balancing of rights that Article 40.3.3o prescribes, but, ultimately, it seeks to ensure that where the life of a mother is at real and substantial risk, a required intervention can take place.

Some new Deputies have only come to this issue in recent weeks and have been at the receiving end of very substantial lobbying by individuals outside the House who are always, categorically, infallibly certain about everything they have to say. The only thing I will say to those Deputies is, "Beware." The same people suffered from the same sense of infallibility 30 years ago and there is not a single legal prediction that they have made on which they have ever been proved right in those 30 years. Let us not get carried away with all of that.

Reference was made to the Bill as being a failure of our culture. Do we want to be proud of not protecting the lives of women? Is it part of our culture that we just bury our heads in the sand and ignore the fact that 4,000 to 5,000 women effect terminations in England every year? I was here in 1983 discussing this issue when I said the constitutional amendment would have no impact on that figure and that the trail to England would continue. I heard similar comments about embracing all of the women going to England to have an abortion. We even had an Attorney General who tried to get an injunction to stop them travelling under the guise of a different Government. The people resoundingly put a stop to this in a referendum. For those who think the majority do not believe a raped, suicidal 14 year old should be denied the possibility of a termination, I can tell them that despite the atmosphere in this House and all of the pressure being put on Members, ordinary, sensible people outside the House who come to this issue from a common-sense view and are beating no drum, most of whom do not spend their time writing to any of us, will take the view that if their daughter was raped and suicidal, they know exactly what they would do and they would not need to debate it at the length we debate the issue in this House. Many sensible people take the view that if their daughter was raped, she should not have to be suicidal for her pregnancy to be terminated. That is the view of an overwhelming majority outside the House. I believe most Members, if they had a 14 or 15 year old daughter who was a victim of rape, would take the same view. We cannot address that issue within the current constitutional parameters, but we can ensure that if a victim in these circumstances is suicidal, we will provide her with the protection she deserves. That is what we are doing and why the amendments tabled to stop us doing from so fail completely to reflect the views of the overwhelming majority who are watching this debate; those who remain awake.

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