Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

While I am not saying that this legislation allows for abortion up to 39 weeks, it does allow for abortion up to the forced premature delivery of an unborn child. A child is alive and kicking in the womb at 21 weeks and would have legal protection in liberal abortion regimes, but it will not have legal protection in this regime. Whatever is said about the debate and whatever majority favours a particular view on this issue, when it comes to the issue of late-term abortions, a large section of society finds that issue extremely difficult. I have received a large number of e-mails from people who are pro-choice and who want legislation on the substantive issue of the X case, but who find it abhorrent that we would countenance legislating for the abortion of a foetus at 21 or 22 weeks. It is only the maximalist views that are calling for this. Most of Irish society does not call for it. It is important that when we discuss legislation, we discuss exactly what we are dealing with and whom it will affect. We are dealing with a 21-week-old baby who weighs 0.75 pounds, is ten and a half inches long and who is delivering kicks and nudges in the mother's womb. This child has hand and startle reflexes, footprints and fingerprints and a sleeping pattern that reflects the mother's activity, and can hear what is happening in the outside world. I am not saying this to create emotion, but it would be very wrong for us to legislate without talking about the exact details of what will happen and whom it will affect. There should be no taboo with regard to pointing out the effects of this legislation. All of us should be able to talk openly about its effects. We have been told that this is never really going to happen, but if we legislate, human behaviour will fill the space of that legislation. This has happened in other countries.

I am shocked by the appalling vista that this legislation opens up the possibility of disabling a pre-term child at the cusp of viability. I imagine this issue is very difficult for everybody. Longitudinal studies conducted on pre-term children have assessed the effects of their pre-term birth after two and a half years. The studies indicate that 50% of these children had no disabilities, 25% had some level of disability and 25% had a severe disability. The rates of disability of these children were assessed again at six and a half years. Twenty-two percent had a severe disability, such as inability to walk caused by cerebral palsy, very low cognitive ability, blindness or deafness. A further 24% were moderately disabled with cerebral palsy but were able to walk, had an IQ in the special needs range or had less severe problems with hearing and vision. Milder problems, such as the need for glasses or low cognitive scores, were also shown in 34% of children. It would be wrong for us to debate this issue and completely blank out that potential outcome of the legislation.

I am told this legislation will only allow this to happen in a situation in which the woman is going to commit suicide and therefore the child would be lost anyway. However, that is not what the legislation provides. It allows for a termination leading to disability on the basis of a psychiatric prediction with a 3% accuracy level. There is a clear and undisputed link with regard to late-term abortions and damage to the mental health of the mother. We heard from Mrs. Justice Catherine McGuinness that the absence of time limits was due to the difficulty in qualifying constitutional rights. She said, however, that it was important to bear in mind that the X case had not involved an advanced pregnancy and, therefore, the question of term limits was not an issue decided by the court. Mrs. Justice McGuinness was of the view that it might be possible to build term limits into legislation and to see how the courts would deal with the matter.

Given the seriousness of this issue and given the broad swathe of support for at least attempting to establish limits, I ask the Minister to support amendment No. 129, which seeks to introduce a 12-week term limit.

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