Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

People always said, "Congratulations, you are expecting a baby". It is my firm belief that the unborn baby must be protected in the Constitution. That is certainly where my vote will be. The committee witnesses spoke about a foetus and terminating the life of the foetus. What lovely language to use when, ultimately, one is aborting a baby. Everything to be found in a fully grown person is formed in a baby at eight weeks in the womb. At 11 weeks, a baby in the womb has fingerprints and its fingernails appear. At 12 weeks in the womb the baby's lips open and close, it turns its head and it can leap around the womb. To be quite clear, I am not a member of the pro-life group or the Iona Institute. I am a person who has formulated my own opinions and I stand proudly to articulate them tonight.

Another thing that really disappointed me in the committee is that the only option it gave for a crisis pregnancy was abortion, and I watched many hours of its proceedings. There was no discussion, or very little, of the option of adoption or fostering. Little thought was given to perinatal hospices for babies born with life-limiting conditions. A mother contacted me last Friday. She told me that, unfortunately, her baby had been diagnosed with a fatal foetal abnormality or, as I call it, a life-limiting condition. She and her husband decided they would have their baby. She told me that she will never forget the nine months that her baby lived. She will never forget holding her baby. Now, she has the little lock of hair and a grave to visit. I realise life is not simple for everybody, but there are options and we must examine them.

There cannot be only one solution to a crisis pregnancy. It cannot be the case that the only word offered by the committee is "abortion". Where are the wraparound supports for the babies and their parents? Let us be quite clear about something because I believe there has not been enough talk about it. Some 25 legal abortions were carried out in Ireland this year under the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act 2013, where the life of the mother was put first. We must be clear about that. We are living a society where the life of a mother who presents at a hospital can be put first. It is being put first in those instances. We must talk about that.

There are different options open to us. One is a system that protects life in all its forms, from conception to natural death, and stands squarely and strongly behind those with crisis pregnancies. It also stands squarely and strongly behind parents who know that their children, whatever ill health or disability the children have, are assured of comprehensive and compassionate health care which supports those children through those challenges, whatever their lives might be. Every Member of the Oireachtas received an email today from the Down Syndrome Ireland, which I read with interest. It is concerned that children born with Down's syndrome are being used as a kind of tool in this debate. That is so wrong. Children who are diagnosed with disabilities in the womb are as entitled to a life as the next child. Those children deserve the love of their mother and father and of their brothers and sisters. Unfortunately, a society has developed in other countries in the world where children with disabilities are not respected as much as they should be and where a termination or abortion seems to be the only way forward.

To conclude, I wish to state on the record that I, Mary Butler, Deputy for Waterford in the 32nd Dáil, will never be in favour of stopping a heartbeat.

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