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

I am very happy to support this Bill. In March 2016, only a year ago, Mr. Donald Trump, on his campaign trail, made the statement that women should suffer some form of punishment for having an abortion. That statement led to an absolute outcry in the United States. Among all the outrageous statements Mr. Donald Trump made, this was the least acceptable to the general population. Mr. Trump had to back-pedal, yet in Ireland there is a 14-year jail sentence for any woman, friend, counsellor or other individual who helps a woman with a crisis pregnancy to have an abortion. That law was enacted only in 2013, which is absolutely unbelievable. It is not a relic. It is not from the Victoria area. It is not the Offences against the Person Act 1861. It was a response to the really minimal X case legislation brought in following the death of Ms Savita Halappanavar. The legislation had to be accompanied by the legislation of 2013 because of the conservatism of Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and, unfortunately, even people in the Labour Party.

As Deputy Bríd Smith just said, when the Taoiseach is asked whether he supports or will continue to support this kind of punishment of women, he answers with something completely different. Today, when asked about this matter by Deputy Bríd Smith, he said that if we changed this law, the Deputy would be saying that if somebody, "kicks his pregnant partner and kills the baby she is carrying, he is [only] to be guilty of a fine." If somebody kicks his pregnant partner, he is guilty of assault; he is not subject to a fine. The Taoiseach does not seem to know the difference between an abortion, assault and miscarriage. It is quite incredible. It is a pathetic response to a really serious issue.

What is the effect of this law and of the ban on abortion in Ireland generally? It does not lessen the rate of abortion. Legally or illegally, women will find ways to have abortions. Therefore, what is the purpose? It has a chilling effect on general practitioners, who cannot even talk to pregnant women in distress. They cannot even talk openly to them about where they can have an abortion, should that be their choice. Even women with fatal foetal abnormalities have reported or testified to the Deputies opposite that they cannot even be assisted by their doctors. That is the effect of this law.

The other effect is evident from the case of the woman who was clinically dead and pregnant but who less than two years ago was kept as if in an incubator by doctors because of the chilling effect of the eighth amendment and particularly the chilling effect of the threat of 14 years in jail if they were not seen to be carrying through with the eighth amendment. It was not just the eighth amendment in itself. We also saw the same chilling effect in regard to the care of Savita Halappanavar.

Women are punished. It is bad enough that women are forced to leave the country at their own expense and in secrecy because of the eighth amendment but the imposition of a criminal record also occurs. This is happening 100 miles up the road in Northern Ireland. Therefore, the idea that it could not happen here at some point is completely wrong. Why have a law if it is not going to be invoked?

Are Deputies seriously saying they believe a woman who has an abortion in this country should be treated worse than a rapist or somebody who carries out a violent crime? If anyone seriously believes that, there is something mentally wrong with him or her. There is no way that is the case. A woman who simply cannot continue with a pregnancy, which could be for any of a variety of reasons, is not a criminal. Therefore, why have this law?

Who are the women? They are sisters of Deputies and they are neighbours, workmates and relatives. They are not aliens from outer space; they are women one meets every single day in one's life.

I have just come from taking part in an event with the ROSA Bus4Repeal. It was part of the global and national actions that are taking place in defiance of the eighth amendment and with the aim of offering assistance to women and giving them access to safe medical abortion pills. I refer to abortion pills such as the ones I have to hand. It is a packet of pills for the Dutch and Belgian market. They are available to women in every other country in the European Union but there is a jail sentence if used in Ireland. We are told by Deputies how unsafe they are. Tell that to women in Norway or the 80% of women in Finland who have abortions. There is nothing unsafe about them and they should not be sensationalised.

Women who use and gain access to the pills have very positive experiences. A survey was carried out by Women on Web on women who access their service. Three women per day have abortions in their own bedrooms in Ireland. Are we seriously saying we are going to send around the police to investigate and arrest them and carry out the punishment in the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act? Some 70% of the women in question felt relieved and most felt very happy with the decision they made.

We are on the eve of an extremely important day. International Women's Day is very historically significant. It commemorates when women workers, in particular, fought for the right to join trade unions and for workers' rights. Tomorrow there will be global actions on International Women's Day on the issue of woman's rights, particularly to draw attention to violence against women. Throughout Central America and Latin America, millions of women have protested. Of course, this is not reported much in RTE and other Irish media. Millions of women have marched against femicide. Throughout the United States, following the election of Mr. Donald Trump, 3 million women took to the streets in the march on Washington. There were also protests in Poland and every other country where women's rights are being eroded and endangered. Tomorrow in Ireland, the focus will be on the repeal of the eighth amendment. At 12.30 p.m., Strike4Repeal is asking women to assemble on O'Connell Bridge wearing black. It is asking that they take time off work or go on strike, which I fully support and endorse. At 5.30 p.m., there will be a march for repeal leaving the Garden of Remembrance and going to the Dáil, where Deputies will yet again be put under pressure over the outrageous eighth amendment.

Why are these things happening? It is because a new generation will not wait. It will not accept that it should just wait dutifully for the likes of the Citizens' Assembly and this Dáil, which is completely unrepresentative of Irish society. It does not reflect the huge societal change and attitudes that have taken place on abortion and many other issues, including that of medical cannabis. The two big parties, particularly Fine Gael because it is in government and has power, are so conservative that they do not believe children should have access to medical cannabis. The new generation of young men and women will not wait. They look at the revelations coming from Tuam, from the so-called mother and baby home. It was not a home but an absolute institution and prison - a concentration camp, in fact, for the young, poor and pregnant women who were put into it and whose offspring mattered nothing to the nuns and the church taking care of them, so much so that the children's bodies were unceremoniously dumped, right up to the age of three. Why did those children die? They had no contact with their own mothers. That, in itself, put their health in serious danger in terms of feeding the other emotional supports.

Does the Minister seriously think that the church that put the eighth amendment in place - let us not kid ourselves that it was any other church as it was a who's who of Catholic groups that argued for the eighth amendment in 1983 - has any moral high ground to lecture women or young people in this country on how they should lead their lives after what we heard at the weekend? It absolutely has not, so forget it. The first thing a bishop was asked at the Citizens' Assembly by one person was whether he really thought he had the right to tell people what to do after what has happened in his institutions. It is hypocrisy. There must be a separation of church and State now.

However, the key reason is the delay. The Citizens' Assembly was put in place last October. It was five years last October since the tragic death of Savita Halappanavar and we still have not had a referendum. The Citizens' Assembly has not even got around to discussing women's health as a basis or ground for abortion. When will it get around to it? It will not. It does not consider it important. It is quite unbelievable that what led to the death of Savita and the resurgent repeal movement has not even been discussed. The debate is being directed into very narrow channels. The opinion poll that appeared in The Irish Timesover the weekend suddenly inserted the idea of replacement of the eighth amendment, rather than its repeal. It is a concept that did not even exist six months ago and is clearly politically motivated to soften people up for far less than repeal. The pro-choice movement will say with one voice, "No, we will not accept anything less than repeal." We reject the tone policing that is taking place, telling us that we are too shrill and loud and that we should accept something less than what is necessary. That was said to the women on the contraception train in 1971 also. They were told they were asking for too much. We deserve nothing less than repeal and that is what we will fight for.

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