Jerry Buttimer (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is extraordinary that we are in this House tonight owing to inactivity and a failure to act. As a consequence, we have done the typical Irish thing - kick the can further down the road. The cowardice has stopped; perhaps this is not enough for some, but perhaps it has gone too far for others. It is time for some people to listen to those of us who vote with our conscience, who have informed our conscience, who have gone away quietly and spoken to obstetricians and psychiatrists and met medical ethics experts, who have done our own analysis and research and made our decision on the basis of what is right, not for any political gain, but only on the basis of what is right for women and unborn children. That is why I am supporting the Bill, because I am pro-life. I weighed 2 lbs when I born and I was 13 weeks premature. Nobody believed my mother when she said she was in trouble, except for a friend of hers who was a doctor, on St. Patrick's Day in 1967.

Medical technology has moved on. The country has moved on. We deserve to be honest with each other. I respect the views of many of my colleagues who disagree with the Government on this issue. They are good, decent people. However, the Bill is about bringing certainty. I would like to provide a quote. We can be selective in our quotations from the committee hearings, but I sat through six days of them and never gave an opinion or did anything other than chair the meetings. A number of quotes struck me. One is from Dr. Rhona O'Mahony who has said that if a woman commits suicide, she dies and her baby dies, too. That is an extraordinary statement because that puts the onus and responsibility on all of us to preserve life. Life is precious, no matter what our view is, and none of us has a right to question this.

I was struck by what the Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, said and she is right: we must trust women. I was absolutely stunned last Sunday in Killarney by the number of women walking down Dalton's Avenue after the match who spoke to me about this issue. They were Cork and Kerry people telling me to do the right thing. For many of us in politics, it is about making decisions every single day of the week and we bring our conscience to our work every single day of the week. We get it wrong sometimes and sometimes we get it right. None of us is perfect and none of us has every single answer.

Dr. Anthony McCarthy told the health committee in January and May that "Suicide in pregnancy is real; it is a real risk and it does happen." He is a perinatal psychiatrist. We all agree that termination of a pregnancy is not the answer, but Dr. McCarthy said we must address the underlying cause of that issue in a woman who feels suicidal.

I was very struck by the presentation made by Dr. Sam Coulter Smith in May. He made a cogent and clear argument. Why are we here tonight legislating? We are legislating because Article 40.3.3^o of Bunreacht na hÉireann has been held out as the bulwark by many of those who are against this legislation. The pro-life campaign website states the following.

The amendment protects the right to life of the unborn and ensures that women receive all necessary medical treatments when pregnant. It is regarded internationally as one of the key pro-life victories of the past 40 years.

I am no Einstein, but on reading Article 40.3.3^o it gives equal and due rights to both the unborn child and the mother.

The Government can only act within the parameters of that article. We had two referendums which were rejected. How can the floodgates open? They can only be opened by a vote of the people. Any other change can only come as a consequence. Under the Constitution, a woman already has a right to a termination of pregnancy. The Bill makes it more restrictive and places a further burden on the woman. We would be wrong to deny a woman that right, irrespective of how rare it might be that she would claim it.

We must trust the women of Ireland. We must trust mothers. My mother who was a midwife was right in 1967. Some of her colleagues thought she was suffering from mental health issues, but she was not. Let us take a leap of faith on behalf of women. I accept that this is difficult legislation for many of my colleagues and understand their concerns because I, too, have struggled with it. I would not have supported it if I thought it was not the right thing to do. We have a duty, as legislators, to pass laws. If it is bad law, it will be deemed to be unconstitutional, but this legislation upholds a Supreme Court decision, no matter what people may think of it.

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