Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

In what is a very difficult and sensitive matter the Taoiseach needs to be informed of what he is talking about. There is no debate, dispute or controversy about Edwards syndrome, Patau syndrome or fatal foetal abnormalities. The view of doctors is conclusive, definitive and uncontested, that these conditions are incompatible with life. I know this among other things because I had a daughter who was born with one of these conditions. It is a very difficult thing to get one's head around, that a child who is born or is yet to be born has a condition that is incompatible with life, that the child has no chance of life and cannot live. There is no dispute. It is not similar to other conditions in which a child might or might not live. The child cannot live and the mother is informed that the child cannot live. Must she be forced to go through with a pregnancy when the child cannot live? If she decides she cannot do that, must she be forced to go to Britain to have an abortion, or will she be looked after, nurtured and protected here, in these most appalling circumstances where a wanted pregnancy cannot conclude with a life? The people who have been victims of this terrible situation are asking the Taoiseach, if necessary, to amend the Constitution to allow for terminations in these circumstances.

I cannot believe the Taoiseach is seriously telling these women, and the many who will face the same situation every week because genetic abnormalities like this occur approximately in one in 10,000 pregnancies, that there is nothing he can do. Will the Taoiseach tell women who are in this appalling situation in years to come that there is nothing he can do? Will he tell them they are forced to go through this tragedy and that the State will do nothing for them? I cannot believe the Taoiseach is seriously saying that. If necessary he must amend the Constitution, although there is some legal opinion to the effect that it could be done within the current constitutional framework because we are not talking about the termination of a life that is viable. The Taoiseach should meet these women. If he does not understand the condition, he should meet the women and their doctors who know about it but he should offer them some hope.

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