Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Every now and then an issue comes before us which challenges us to think about what kind of a country we want to be and what kind of a society we are; an issue that we struggle with, that may be difficult to talk about, but that is not going to go away. Today is a moment where we, the Members of the 32nd Dáil, come face to face again with such an issue. In doing so, we come face to face with our history - a history that continues to unfold and continues to hold up a mirror in which we sometimes do not like what we see, whether it is the damp cold of the Magdalen laundries creeping into our bones, or the sundered silence of mother and baby homes being broken, or the glimpses of what was an all too acceptable culture exposed by the Kerry babies case. All these are connected by the way we as a country have treated women, and particularly the way we have treated pregnant women.

I think of another cold January like this one in 1984 when the 15 year-old Ann Lovett gave birth alone to her son beneath a statue of Our Lady. The death of Ann and her baby son in these stark and lonely circumstances is a memory that chills us still and one we should not forget. We now arrive at another moment on a long journey, starting with the insertion of the eighth amendment of the Constitution in 1983 through the court cases that made us think about the pregnant victims of rape and incest, through the bravery of families faced with fatal foetal abnormalities who made us think about the particular cruelties we add to their tragedies, and, after all this, perhaps arriving at the realisation that each crisis pregnancy is different and each involves a real woman facing a very difficult and very personal decision.

These are real women such as the 36 from County Carlow who travelled to the UK for an abortion in 2016, or the 38 from Mayo, the 69 from Tipperary, the 85 from Wicklow, the 241 from Cork and the 1,175 women from Dublin. Women from every county in the Republic travelled to the UK in 2016 and we need to acknowledge them all, including the 49 from Kerry; 130 from Kildare; 21 from Leitrim; 20 from Roscommon; 69 from Wexford; 39 from Cavan; 15 from Monaghan; 99 from Limerick; 53 from Clare; 38 from Westmeath; 63 from Donegal; 113 from Galway; 44 from Kilkenny; 42 from Laois; 83 from Louth; 100 from Meath; 28 from Offaly; 29 from Sligo; 16 from Longford; and 56 from Waterford.

In 2016, 3,265 Irish women travelled to the UK alone and we know that Irish women travel to other countries such as the Netherlands as well. More than 1,200 of the women who went to the UK were aged between 30 and 39; more than 1,500 were aged between 20 and 29; 255 were aged 40 or over; ten were girls under the age of 16; and 230 were teenagers. More than half of the women who travelled were married, in a civil partnership, or in a relationship while 85% of them were between three and 12 weeks' pregnant. It is estimated that at least 170,000 Irish women have travelled to other countries for abortions since 1980.

These are not faceless women. It might be convenient for us sometimes to think that they are. They are our friends, neighbours, sisters, cousins, mothers, aunts, and wives. Each woman is dealing with her own personal situation and making what is a deeply difficult decision because this time around - let us be honest about this – this is not a decision or a procedure that anyone undertakes lightly. Women agonise about it and consider every possibility for dealing with the particular crisis facing them, and sometimes they arrive at the conclusion that there is no other option for them but to terminate their pregnancy. When they arrive at that difficult decision, the country we live in, which we hope has come a long way from the dark events that continue to haunt this Chamber, tells them to go and get their care elsewhere - go to another country or head off somewhere else.

In 1992, we formalised the right of Irish women to travel for an abortion and to obtain information about it, but we have been temporarily exporting women in crisis for an awful lot longer than that. I cannot help but wonder what we would have done if we did not have a neighbouring island to help us turn a blind eye. Sometimes turning a blind eye is the same as turning your back. We need now to seek to build a society which accepts our own challenges and addresses them honestly, maturely and openly, which does not seek to deny reality or to outsource it to another country, and which does not reject women at the most vulnerable moments in their lives.

As I stand before this House at the commencement of what I genuinely believe in time could be seen as an historic debate, I am fully aware of the sensitivities and complexities of this issue. I want to acknowledge the deeply held, genuine views on all sides of the House and throughout the country. No matter what may divide us, I accept that all of us are trying to do what is right. All of us are guided by our own conscience and our own sense of humanity. Some of us have changed our views over the years. My own views have changed and been formed by listening to women and doctors, and coming to recognise some hard realities. Some of us bear the scars of past debates and fear what is to come. However, this time, I firmly believe that it is possible for us to have a respectful debate on the issue. Please do not call that naïve and do not dismiss the idea that we can maturely recognise that each of us has deeply personal and genuinely held views, all of which deserve to be heard, understood and respected. It is an issue that troubles most of us as individuals. For some of us, it challenges us to hold what appear to be conflicting views simultaneously. Which of us does not value and love human life, and which of us does not want to see that protected? No one has a monopoly on that. The tactics name-calling, pigeon-holing, and stereotyping need to be consigned to history because they have only led to paralysis, fear and division.

It will require effort and attention from all of us, regardless of our views, but it is so important that everyone has the chance to hear clearly in order that when, as a nation, we come to make the next decision on this issue, it is informed.

We do so as a country with a particularly complex past which, in fact, dates back to 1861, when abortion was a felony under the Offences against the Person Act, a felony with a sentence of penal servitude for life. In more recent decades, it has been an issue dominated by referendums and court cases. As Members know, 1983 saw the first referendum. In 1992 there was another with three questions. Legislation followed in 1995. A third referendum on abortion was held in 2002 seeking to overturn the X case but it was defeated. In 2014 the issue came before this House again when we passed the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act.

I remember vividly that debate and some of the offensive comments about floodgates opening. I remember the language used, which seemed to suggest women would even fake a threat to their own lives to obtain a termination - quite unbelievable really, when we look back only those few short years. Obviously, none of this has come to pass and the reports laid before this House each year bear that out.

Since the passing of that law there has been a clear legal basis for abortion in Ireland but it has become clear that the Oireachtas can go no further without constitutional change. Other Members have tried to bring forward thoughtful legislation to assist families with a diagnosis of fatal foetal abnormality, for example. I have been the Minister to respond to these Private Members' Bills but on each occasion the legal advice has been clear that without the repeal of the eighth amendment, we, as an Oireachtas, could not address these issues.

Abortion is a reality for women living in Ireland but not just women in the limited circumstances in which it is legal under the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act, nor for the many women who travel to other countries, as I have outlined. There are now new realities on top of that. The Oireachtas committee heard evidence of abortion pills being bought on the Internet and used by women in this country without any medical supervision. Research from the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecologyshows a 62% increase in the number of women from Ireland contacting one online provider over a five-year period, up from 548 women in 2010 to 1,438 in 2015, and that is just one provider.

Can we pause and picture what this is telling us, because we can get lost in numbers and years? Is it acceptable to any of us that women are once again left in a lonely and scary place, sending off for a pill to be sent through the post instead of being able to access the medical advice and support they need? This is happening in Ireland today. It is a fact. How can we ignore it? How can we consider it to be all right? If it is the sad reality that we have been exporting this issue for many decades, are we now accepting that, on top of exporting it, women must import their own solutions?

I want to turn now to the substance of the recommendations of the Joint Committee on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution. I commend all the members for their work and thank them for the contributions they made. They have served the Oireachtas well. I wish to thank Senator Catherine Noone, in particular, for her calm and balanced handling of the issue as Chair. We, as an Oireachtas, asked these colleagues, on a cross-party basis, to do a very important body of work: to listen to experts, to hear evidence and to report back to us. We owe them a debt of gratitude for the time and dedication they applied to their task. I would also like to commend the chair of the Citizens’ Assembly, Ms Justice Mary Laffoy, and its members for their careful deliberations and to acknowledge their valuable contribution.

The Citizens' Assembly and the committee have given us a model for addressing this issue in a rational and measured way, and I believe it is one we should follow. I want to recognise that the recommendations contained in the committee’s report represent the views of the majority of members but there was not unanimous agreement on them. I respect the views of those who dissented from the recommendations but I believe the recommendations are the basis on which we must proceed on this issue. The main conclusion of the committee’s work is that change is needed to extend the grounds for lawful termination of pregnancy in the State. In order to effect that change, the committee recommended that Article 40.3.3^oshould be removed from the Constitution. The committee then went on to make recommendations on the grounds on which termination of pregnancy should be permitted in Ireland, if Article 40.3.3^ois repealed by the Irish people. It recommended extending the law on abortion to cover cases where the health of a woman is concerned, cases of fatal foetal abnormalities and a broader legal regime that allows abortions where the woman seeks it from her medical practitioner if her pregnancy is under 12 weeks gestation.

I am working with my chief medical officer and officials of my Department, and the Attorney General, to consider how best to translate these recommendations into legislation, should that be the wish of the Irish people. It is my intention that, in the event of a referendum, as much information as possible would be available to people so they can make an informed decision.

While it is understandable the focus so far has been on the committee’s recommendations regarding the eighth amendment, it is important to put on the record of the House that the committee did not only make recommendations on termination of pregnancy, but also on the services and supports that should be available to women. I am fully committed to ensuring that all women accessing maternity services in our country should receive the same standard of safe, high quality care. Every woman, from any corner of Ireland, should expect and be able to access the maternity services she needs. I am confident that, through the implementation of the first-ever national maternity strategy, Creating a Better Future Together, the quality outcomes envisaged by the committee will be realised. In some ways, it is incredible it is the first-ever national maternity strategy. Officials in my Department, under the chairmanship of the chief medical officer, have now established a group to address and formulate an effective and comprehensive response to the issues raised by the committee in its ancillary recommendations.

We have made other progress which provides the base for delivering the kind of integrated care women and their babies deserve. We have established the national women and infants health programme. We now have HIQA’s standards for safer better maternity services and new HSE national standards for bereavement care to ensure clinical and counselling services are in place to support all women and families in all pregnancy loss situations. The HSE’s Positive Options crisis pregnancy counselling service is also available in 50 centres nationwide.

As someone born three years after the 1983 referendum on the eighth amendment, I never imagined I might one day be the Minister for Health responsible for a referendum on its repeal. I come at it from a perspective that I think was sadly absent in 1983, that is, from the perspective of women’s health care. In the Ministry I have the honour to hold, it is my duty to work to ensure that people in this country receive the highest possible standards of care, and to protect and promote the health of our people under the laws of our land.

I realise the issue before us challenges us - it challenges me. It causes us to ask difficult questions of ourselves. It makes us uncomfortable at times as we collectively wrestle with what is, at its core, a very personal and private matter. Women become pregnant and it is a joyous thing for so many, but it is a terrifying thing for some and a tragic thing for others. Irish women are driven today to find their own solutions. Sometimes they put themselves at risk in doing so. As things stand, they are often left without help, advice or support at one of the most vulnerable times in their lives. I hope that, as a country, we can no longer tolerate a law which denies care and understanding to women who are our friends, our sisters, our mothers, our daughters, our wives. Ultimately, there is always a deeply personal, private story behind each individual case, which I believe is a matter best served by women and their doctors. I believe the people in this country trust women and trust their doctors to make these difficult decisions.

I look forward to what I hope will be a constructive debate on the issues raised by the committee here and in the Seanad. I hope we can show here that this debate can take place in an atmosphere of respect for each other's views so that the same is possible in the context of a referendum campaign. After this debate concludes, I expect to return to Government in the coming weeks with a series of proposals which I believe can deliver a referendum by the end of May or very early June, should the will of the Oireachtas be to facilitate that. I do not doubt that, as long as I remain a Member of this House, I will continue to witness moments in this Chamber that remind us of darker times in our history, but let this be a different type of moment. Let this be a moment people will look back on as one where their representatives confronted one of the most complex issues we have faced as a country with clarity, with compassion and with care.

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