Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Anti-Austerity Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I will refer first to the Government amendment to the Bill, which is seen by people as a disgraceful manoeuvre. The Dáil and the electorate are very clear about what is happening, namely, that Fine Gael and, unfortunately, Independents are now opposing the repeal of the eighth amendment. They are ensuring that it will never happen within the lifetime of this Government because the timeline they have put forward would bring everything to 2018. It is to be hoped that this Government will not be in existence at that point. Certainly, the arrangement with Fianna Fáil would suggest as much. What is happening is not surprising in view of the fact that some of the architects of the eighth amendment - including the Taoiseach and the MInister for Finance, Deputy Noonan - are key figures in this Government. What will enrage and anger many women and young people is that Independents who were elected on a platform of repealing the amendment and a lifetime commitment to opposition to political whips are now buckling under a whip and kicking this issue to touch. Women must wait, as must young people who are very impatient in terms of downgrading the church's grip on people's lives.

During the debate on the eighth amendment in 1983 there was a Salem-style atmosphere in the House. A host of Deputies spoke about a holocaust of the unborn. Members, with a few very notable exceptions in the Seanad and other places, obviously had no regard whatsoever for women experiencing crisis pregnancies. Today, we have a very different debate because this is about bodily autonomy, a concept that is now increasingly demanded by the population. We do not think that, under our Constitution, an embryo or foetus should have equal status to a live woman.

The momentum for repeal has been increasingly obvious. We have had the Maser mural, repeal jumpers and #twowomentravel. There was an historic march for choice attended by 25,000 people. I, the Socialist Party and the Anti-Austerity Alliance salute, in particular, young people who have made a decision that they are going to fight to bring about change on this issue. They have been inspired by the marriage equality campaign last year. They will not accept the Government's Irish solution to the Irish problem.

The Dáil is now a severe impediment to progress on this issue, yet it is the only place where a referendum can be triggered. If Deputies really want the repeal of the eighth amendment, they should vote for this Bill because there will be a series of stages to progress it. Meanwhile, the Citizens' Assembly can deliberate. To those involved in the repeal movement I say that we must continue the pressure to end the possible stymieing of a very important issue. We need to look no further than Poland, where hundreds of thousands of women and men came out onto the streets and forced their Government to change.

In the past two months, another trend has emerged. There has been a series of articles, opinion pieces and polls which tell us that women are asking for far too much and that we should give them a little bit of, rather than full, abortion rights. An article by Michael Clifford suggested that the radical left should tone things down. The left is the only force in this country that has ever championed repeal and the pro-choice view, including in 1983 when three left-wing Deputies tried to prevent the madness that engulfed the Dáil. Society in Ireland, we are told, has not progressed that much and the new mantra is that people are not ready. We are told we must continue with the slow pace of incremental change that has been the hallmark of Irish society for decades. People are no longer prepared to do that.

The Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Deputy Katherine Zappone, now tells us that there is not enough support for a pro-choice position. If the civil rights movement in racist southern states in 1950s America had listened to arguments of that nature, we would be a long way behind where we are today. Even if it was the case that only a minority of people are pro-choice, that does not preclude us from asking for what is necessary, namely, legislation to deal with the 12 women who leave this State every day to access abortion. The Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, tweeted a couple of them recently. In this country, three women access medical abortion pills from Women On Web and have abortions in their homes every day - that is 1,000 abortions in Ireland every year. That will continue, legally or illegally, regardless of whether a referendum is called. That is what the Government must stand over.

I remind the Government that this is the fourth anniversary of the tragic death of Savita Halapannavar. Four years on, it is not even discussing the absence of what led to her death, that is, abortion to protect a woman's health. It is not even thinking about that. The slow pace of change it wants people to accept is quite incredible. I do not think that what the Government is claiming is the case. I am of the view that if we held a referendum to repeal the eighth, we would win a majority in respect of our position.

The key point is that we must keep women's bodies out of the Constitution. It is not the place to be dealing with what the Taoiseach has said are not black-and-white issues. It is not normal to do so, it has been a disaster for 33 years and it has had a chilling effect on doctors. The latter was particularly the position in the case of Savita but also in the context of many other women.

Some parties are actually suggesting that abortion in cases where a woman's life is at risk, where rape has occurred or where fatal foetal abnormalities exist is an adequate response to what is needed. We totally reject that. We put forward the idea that we must repeal the odious eighth amendment and then legislate for what is needed. I would also contend that the people who argue that we should not move too fast but, rather, that we should proceed at a slow and steady pace are not in touch with the popular mood. It is only three years ago that people on the other side of the House thought it was fine to introduce a 14-year jail sentence for women who have abortions. Nobody in society thinks it is acceptable. The commentators in the media did not predict the significant turnout in working-class communities for the marriage equality referendum.

Opinions are not fixed. We should have a debate if the Bill is passed - we need to have a debate the length and breadth of the country. However, tying repeal of the eighth amendment to any restriction in terms of legislation would be to predetermine the outcome of the debate and suggest in advance that there are deserving and undeserving abortions. We need women to be trusted to make those decisions, and that is the view of the Anti-Austerity Alliance-People Before Profit.

We believe that there is an underestimation of the real radicalisation that has taken place in society. Nothing short of dealing with a situation where working-class women, poor women, migrant women, those who cannot travel so easily, young women, students and all women should be able to decide this for themselves. It is a matter of bodily autonomy.

I will finish with a quote from Martin Luther King. Every single social movement has been told, "Hold on, you're looking for too much". He answered by saying, "For years now I have heard the word "Wait!" ... This "Wait" has almost always meant "Never"". I remind people who were elected and voted only 18 months ago on this side of the House for this very same Bill to review their position.

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