Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

Unfortunately, the contribution by the Minister for Health was disingenuous in the extreme. He contradicted himself in virtually every second sentence.

He said:

I believe that this matter should be dealt with in the 32nd Dáil, when parties have a fresh mandate from the people for their policies. I do not want it to be an election or pre-election issue. It needs to be dealt with sensitively.

How will the Minister get a fresh mandate if there is no pre-election or election debate? He believes he will miraculously have a mandate in the next Dáil without such debate. Incidentally, this Government has carried out many savage austerity measures for which it had no mandate from the people from the last election.

The Minister also said he believed that what is now required is "a considered and careful public debate to find a consensus". A consensus is when everybody agrees on an issue. There will never be a consensus in this State regarding the right of a woman to have an abortion because there are people, mainly those of certain religious convictions, for whom this is anathema. We respect their right to hold those beliefs, but they may not exercise a veto over the rest of society. That is what the Minister is allowing by saying that. To say we must wait for a consensus means never to introduce the right of a woman to terminate a pregnancy. The consensus argument could also be turned on its head; there is no consensus now, yet women are denied what we believe to be a basic civil right. Further, the Minister wants the debate to be conducted in a similar way to the same-sex marriage debate in the Convention on the Constitution, confined to 100 people or so. That is also a cop-out. Society has moved way ahead of this Government and the Minister. As colleagues have indicated, significant majorities in opinion polls support the right to termination under particular circumstances.

The Minister argues against this Bill because he says legislation is already in place. However, this legislation is so restrictive that it will scarcely ever be used by a woman in the very exceptional circumstances that it covers. Finally, the Minister says he opposes this Bill because it removes existing rights for women and the unborn without undertaking an analysis of the policy and legal implications of such a change for our Constitution. A constitutional amendment is not for analysis and detailed legislation, but to set down general principles. As stated in the Bill: "The amendment of the Constitution effected by this Act, for the avoidance of doubt, will have the effect of removing the constitutional ban on abortion and of entitling the legislature to provide legislation for the provision of abortion in this jurisdiction." It hands the decision to an assembly that is supposedly democratic. What do the Government and Fianna Fáil find objectionable about that?

It is quite incredible to hear Deputy Kelleher, representing the Fianna Fáil Party, come to the House today and accuse us of introducing this to, in his words, embarrass certain parties or Deputies. I assure the Deputy that colleagues and comrades like Deputy Coppinger have been campaigning for decades, more than 30 years in her case, for women's right to choose, along with other rights. Is Deputy Kelleher one of those who would have said in a previous epoch that women should not campaign for universal suffrage because it would embarrass Prime Minister Asquith and the lords and gentlemen who ruled over the society of the day? Those who oppose this Bill do not draw attention to the current situation, where a woman in this State can be criminalised and sentenced to 14 years in prison for getting medication that would achieve a termination. They also use the term "abortion on demand" to describe what they are opposing, as if it were a light-hearted choice for any woman to seek the termination of a pregnancy. As is well known, it is a decision that is made after much thought by women.

Some Deputies claim they do not support this but that they would support termination of pregnancy in the case of a fatal foetal abnormality, for example, and perhaps of rape. However, as long as the constitutional prohibition remains, it is impossible to legislate for that, so if they support sincerely the right of a woman faced with the horrific situation of a fatal foetal abnormality, they will remove the constitutional prohibition. The reality is that no matter what people think, it is the right of a pregnant woman to decide for herself whether to continue her pregnancy. Without control of their own fertility and bodily autonomy, women in Ireland will never have equality. Have we not lived through religious and State policing of people's bodies and personal lives for long enough to see the misery it inflicts? Have we forgotten the Magdalen laundries, the criminalisation of male homosexuality, symphysiotomy and all the vestiges of a horrific past, which are now recognised as an affront to human rights? It must, of course, be noted that this Government chose to ignore the women who survived symphysiotomy through providing an inadequate redress scheme. Even if it held and, hopefully, won a referendum to appeal the eighth amendment and remove the ban on abortion, there would still be problems for women because of the Catholic Church's influence and control over sections of the medical establishment and hospitals. This issue also raises the need to fundamentally and totally separate church and State. All these issues are involved and implied in this.

Chuir an Teachta Coppinger agus mé féin an Bille um an gCeathrú Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht 2014 os comhair na Dála mar go bhfuil sé práinneach go mbeadh an ceart ag bean ins an tír seo deireadh a chur le toircheas más é sin cinneadh na mná úd. Séard atá i gceist ná go gcuirfear deireadh leis an gcosc sa Bhunreacht ar cheart mná deireadh a chur le toircheas. Tá cásanna an-deacair ann, cosúil le féatais le héalanga marfacha. Tá sé barbartha go gcuirfí iallach ar mhná dul go dtí deireadh téarma an toirchis in a leithéid de chás. Tá cásanna deacra eile ann freisin. Dá bhrí sin, ba cheart go n-athrófaí an Bunreacht agus go dtógfaí amach an cosc ar cheart na mban deireadh a chur le toircheas. Is ceart bunúsach é sin agus dá mba rud é go seasann éinne ins an Dáil seo ar son cearta na mban, ba cheart dóibh tacaíocht a thabhairt don Bhille seo.

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