Séamus Healy (Tipperary South, Workers and Unemployed Action Group) | Oireachtas source

Amendment No. 153 seeks to exclude the criminalisation of the pregnant woman. It seeks to differentiate the pregnant woman from any others involved in assisting her. The proposal to criminalise the pregnant woman and to make her subject to a 14-year prison sentence is inhumane, barbaric and anachronistic. It is indefensible and should be removed from the legislation. The 14-year sentence is, in itself, extraordinary. In recent years in the court system, prison sentences for the heinous crime of rape and manslaughter have been significantly less than 14 years.

At the committee hearings and in the debate tonight, the Minister said he is obliged by Article 40.3.3° of the Constitution. The Irish people did not vote for or instruct any Government to criminalise pregnant women involved in these situations. They did not vote for or instruct to propose a 14-year sentence in such situations. The section criminalising the pregnant woman is inhumane, barbaric and anachronistic and should be deleted.

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