Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I should point out that this would go beyond the position in Britain, where the Abortion Act 1967 still requires two doctors to form the opinion in good faith that an abortion is necessary to prevent a risk to the mental or physical health of the pregnant woman. We all know this law is applied in such a way as to provide abortion on demand, with one in every five pregnancies in Britain ending in abortion. That is 200,000 abortions performed in Britain per year, with stronger laws than were proposed by the Citizens' Assembly. Currently, in Ireland, one in every 13 pregnancies unfortunately ends in abortion.

The first mistake the committee made was on 18 October last, at the third meeting with witnesses appearing before it. A vote was taken at that meeting. The committee members decided then, not by a majority, that Article 40.3.3° should not be retained in full. I remember thinking that night that it was a case of job done, pull down the shutters and close the curtains. The decision had been made without even listening to all the witnesses or viewpoints. Why would one do that on the third week of witnesses appearing before the committee? Why would one not wait to hear all the evidence to be provided before making up one's mind? I was very concerned and saddened at that stage. Pro-life witnesses wondered if there was a point in appearing before the committee when the committee had made up its mind at that early stage. There has been much criticism that the committee was biased. There is no doubt about it. When one looks at the number of witnesses who appeared before the committee one can see how many were on one side of this debate and how many were on the other. We are not trying to put people in boxes, but it was quite obvious that the pro-life opportunity was not presented as well as it should have been.

In addition, I was struck that the word used most often in the committee was "foetus". I have never heard a word used so often in a committee. I am lucky enough to have three children. My youngest is 12 years old now and I remember often walking in the street when I was pregnant. I never recall anybody saying to me, "Congratulations Mary, you are expecting a foetus".

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