Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The Labour Party supports this Bill as we have consistently sought to ensure the repeal of the eighth amendment. The Labour Party has a proud history in supporting a woman's right to choose. Colleagues of mine such as Deputies Jan O'Sullivan and Howlin, with others in the party, campaigned against the eighth amendment as far back as 1983. That opposition then was based on the principle that it was wrong to use the Constitution as a mechanism to deal with the sensitive issue of terminations. It was wrong then and it is wrong now. It is worth remembering that my party has always been the key catalyst for much social change. Under Labour Party Governments, we decriminalised homosexuality, held a successful referendum to legalise divorce, legalised contraception, called a referendum to enshrine marriage equality and legislated for the X case, after the successive failures of previous Governments to do so.

The eighth amendment should never ever have been inserted into the Constitution. It was stupid. Bunreacht na hÉireann is not the arena in which deeply personal decisions regarding the health of a woman should be adjudicated. We remain one of the only countries in western Europe to place such a heavy restriction on access to safe, legal and appropriate abortion services. Abortion is a matter for a woman and her doctor, supported by her family. It is important to say on this day of all days that it is not for the State, for the church or for anyone else to interfere in matters to do with the bodily autonomy of women.

There can be no illusions about it. Twelve women leave our shores every day to access termination services. According to the Irish Family Planning Association, between January 1980 and December 2015, 166,951 women travelled overseas to access a procedure not available in their own country. In 2015 alone, 3,451 women gave Irish addresses while accessing services in the United Kingdom. While the United Kingdom is the primary country where Irish women receive terminations, there are other countries to which they, unfortunately, have to go, including the Netherlands.

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For those with the financial resources, it is an arduous journey but for many more, with less financial means, it is a journey they cannot afford to take. That is wrong. It is also wrong that no woman of child-bearing age has had a chance to ever vote on these laws. It is shameful that nobody in the State under the age of 51 years has had his or her say on the archaic eighth amendment.

If a woman or girl is raped and a subject of incest and becomes pregnant as a result, our laws force her to carry the pregnancy to term. If a crisis pregnancy causes a woman excess acute medical illness, in many cases she has been forced to live with it.

Access to terminations can also be a class issue. According to the Irish Family Planning Association, IFPA:

Travelling to the UK for a ... [termination] below 14 weeks gestation costs at least €1,000. This includes clinic fees of €500-€600, flights and accommodation. This does not include indirect costs such as child care and loss of income.

[So termination] ... in cases foetal abnormality costs more due to the duration of the treatment, which can ... [go on for another] 4-5 days [up to a week].

It is disappointing, despite all the progress we have made as a nation, that we continue to export the issue of abortion in what is a total abdication of duty towards our fellow citizens.

Given the day that is in it and it has been an emotional day and an emotional week for our country, it is incredible that successive Governments, comprising Members from all sides of the House, can stand by in the light of what is a fundamental human rights issue. As Members of this House will be only too aware, Ireland is in breach of Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. This is intolerable and we need urgent action.

Who is thinking of Amanda Mellet tonight and the apology which this State had to give to her? I know the Minister, Deputy Simon Harris, met her because I, with Deputy Billy Kelleher, wrote to him last November asking him to met her and to at least give her some hope and support in regard to two of the three issues that the United Nations has declared Ireland to be in breach of, particularly in the area of rehabilitation and compensation.

The Labour Party made a clear commitment during the last general election to hold a referendum to repeal the eighth amendment. I commend the work of my colleagues and the Labour Party women in this regard. It is not sufficient to simply repeal the amendment and not replace it, hence the Labour Party has always proposed legislation, and has done so in the recent past, to deal with it.

The Government, however, also needs to consider the views of others, those of clinicians. Many commentators have highlighted the legal difficulties faced by doctors under the current system. The existing legislation is not robust enough to allow for doctors to make decisions in consultation with women and in their best interests. We in the Labour Party are not interested in fudging the issue by diverting it off to the Citizens' Assembly which is devoid of the people who are representing them in the one true Assembly which is here in Dáil Éireann. The Dál is our citizens' assembly and it has been said time and again in this House that we must call a referendum and allow the people their say on this outdated amendment.

I agree with the spirit of this Bill and we, in the Labour Party, will be voting for it. The idea that a young girl who accesses abortion pills or anything else can be incarcerated for 14 years is immoral, wrong and unconscionable. We need to work more closely with a coalition of people campaigning for a repeal of the eighth amendment to make some serious progress. The law must be changed. However, we need a sweeping reform of access to termination services.

Public opinion has clearly changed. A Red C poll commissioned by Amnesty International found that 87% of respondents want access to termination services widened. In October 2016, a poll in TheIrish Timespoll found that nearly 75% of respondents support repeal of the eighth amendment. The only realistic solution is to call an immediate referendum and repeal the outdated eighth amendment and legislate in this House.

The Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill was something that we fought for in the previous Dail. The second annual report on the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act has been released. We now have two reports, one for 2014 and one for 2015. In total they tell us that 52 lives have been saved as a result of that legislation. The people in this House and outside it might reflect on the change that has brought about and the continuing change we all need to bring about for the women of this country.

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