Fiona O'Loughlin (Kildare South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will always remember the first time that I came to grips with what the eighth amendment meant or could potentially mean. Six years ago next month, I received a phone call from a friend to tell me that the lovely wife of a good friend had passed away during childbirth. I was stunned and could not believe it had happened to this lovely man, with whom I had spoken just a few days beforehand. He had spoken of his excitement and anticipation of having a lovely baby. All of a sudden, that was taken from him when he lost his wife. I will never forget a few days later sitting with him, holding his hand and listening to his anguished cries, trying to understand how she had lost her life in childbirth. He was trying to make sense of how it had happened in a modern world and country. His wife was not from Ireland and he had to try to explain to her family, in another language and from another culture, that whereas they thought Ireland was a country that would do its best to care for its pregnant women, children and all its citizens, this had happened anyway. My friend was left a without his wife and their little boy was left without a mother.

That was the first real experience of this issue for me, coming from a pro-life and conservative background. Any debate on the eighth amendment is, was and always will be extremely divisive, unfortunately. We must first think of the women involved with huge compassion. To have any real understanding of what It means, one must walk in the shoes of a woman facing a crisis pregnancy and her partner, or of a doctor or medical professional who must work under conditions that are not always clear-cut. It must be the most cruel and horrific of cases where a woman, hearing the news and feeling joy that she Is going to give birth to a baby nine months hence, then gets the awful and tragic news that the baby is not going to survive past birth. Who am I, and who is anyone here, to tell that woman how she should feel or what she should do? For those women who simply cannot endure continuing their pregnancy, and who go abroad to seek a termination, their sad and tragic stories of trying to smuggle small bodies or ashes home would bring a tear from a stone.

To be the victim of a degrading rape must be horrific and to further discover a pregnancy resulting from that rape must be heartbreaking. Some women carry on and give birth to the subsequent baby, and I have nothing but admiration and respect for the strength of those women. However, there are many in that position who, having been violated In the worst possible way, cannot find a way to carry on that pregnancy. They should not have to sneak abroad. I am against abortion on demand and consider myself pro-life in that I believe every support should be given to a woman with a crisis pregnancy to enable her to continue that pregnancy. I would not advise or suggest a termination in such a case but I feel strongly that I will not stand in judgement if a woman chooses that path.

We are a caring but diverse nation and there can never be a referendum, vote or amendment that will please all. It must be the duty of all of us to protect the most vulnerable in society where possible, whether that is the unborn child, a newborn in pain and suffering, who will ultimately die, or in the saving of the life of a pregnant woman. A change in law, one hopes, could only mean we are moving forward and evolving, yet it remains true that we matter, and we matter for every moment of our lives.

Free will and choice are powerful gifts. One person's wish might be another person's tragedy.

The terms that are used when debating the eighth amendment can be hurtful and insulting to those who are faced with the horrors of losing a child before or after birth. I battle with what I feel is right and wrong. It is wrong to destroy a life, but it is also wrong to refuse a choice to a woman, who is in a crisis situation, about what is right for her. It cannot be right to insist that a woman must carry a child who will not survive or who is the result of rape or incest if that woman does not wish to do so. We must listen to all sides with respect. Everyone is entitled to an opinion, without being labelled pro-choice or pro-life. There are not just two poles of opinion on this, but a spectrum of opinion and thought in the middle. That is where I find myself and I wish to speak for people who find themselves on that spectrum.

I thank the Citizens' Assembly and the Oireachtas committee for their arduous work. I especially thank the women who spoke about their experiences and the medics who gave up their time to speak on behalf of their patients. We must take account of the evidence from the committee hearings. Emotion alone cannot dictate how we deal with this. I appreciate the facts that emerged from the evidence. A constitutional change is needed to legislate for victims of rape, incest and fatal foetal abnormalities and to remove the threat of criminalisation hanging over medics. We hear of the numbers of women travelling across the water for abortions - ten a day - without support or medical help. That is the reality and hypocrisy of this country. We are ignoring that and the fact that women get abortion pills through the post and are afraid to seek medical help if they need it.

We owe it to Savita, Ann Lovett, Amanda Mellet, my friend's wife, Ms X, Ms Y, Ms D and Ms R to do what we can to ensure that the situation they endured will not recur. Again, I call for a respectful and mature debate. We must have a referendum to give the public its say on this fundamental issue. It is wrong that at this point no woman of childbearing age has had the opportunity to vote on our laws. We must have tolerance, kindness and compassion.

I take great issue with the deliberate attempt of some to suggest that babies with disabilities would be aborted should the eighth amendment be repealed. This is clearly rejected by the committee. It is absolutely not the case. As a sister of a much loved brother with Down's syndrome and as someone who has had a lifelong involvement with Special Olympics, working with 180 towns around the island of Ireland to celebrate the abilities and achievements of people with disabilities, I find this misinformation and scaremongering abhorrent. Shame on those in the pro-life lobby who chose to put a photograph of a little girl with Down's syndrome on promotional literature. That is so disrespectful to my brother, who reads the newspapers and follows the news every day, his peers and all the families who have children with Down's syndrome. I welcome the letter from the CEO of Down Syndrome Ireland calling out this low and disrespectful behaviour.

The eighth amendment can be viewed as a massive platform of inequality, given the fact that the last vote on the matter was in 1983. The people whose lives are directly affected today by this amendment did not vote on it. Life has changed, and the world has changed. There are no easy answers to the very difficult questions before us but we cannot continue to export our problems to our neighbours. I believe I have a responsibility to the women who have not yet been faced with these tragedies but who, sadly, will be. I believe I have a moral obligation to help find and explore whatever solutions may be available to avoid or alleviate these women's suffering. That is the reason I support having a referendum and I support repeal of the eighth amendment. However, I oppose abortion on demand and I am grappling with the 12-week rule, which I feel at this point I will be unable to support.

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