Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

These statements in the Dáil are another important step on Ireland’s journey to reproductive rights. People across the country are looking to the Houses of the Oireachtas to provide leadership on a human rights issue where, until now, there has been none. This is a time for political courage, not political cowardice. I welcome that many Deputies have chosen to participate in these statements. This issue is too important for politicians to shirk their responsibilities. In the coming weeks the public has a right to hear the views of every Member of this House.

It is true that the issues involved are complex, emotive and divisive. However, we now have the benefit of the results and recommendations not only of an Oireachtas committee but also the Citizens' Assembly. As an Independent Minister, one of the main reasons I insisted that we should take the approach of establishing a Citizens' Assembly was that it would provide us with a body of knowledge. That knowledge is now available. It includes the views of independent legal and medical experts and, more importantly, the testimonies of many women. I urge every Member of this House and our colleagues in the Seanad to become familiar with this knowledge, study it and use it to inform voters. There has never been a better time for public representatives to make informed decisions on where they stand in this debate and to begin the process of engaging with voters. As elected representatives we have a duty to outline our positions and how we arrived at them.

While my views on repealing the eighth amendment are well known and long established, as a democrat I accept that there are those who have a deeply held opposing view. There are Members of this House who disagree with the Citizens' Assembly, the Oireachtas committee and me. I respect those views. When I spoke at Dublin City University, DCU, on the theme "After the 8th: Re-visioning Reproductive Rights" I engaged with some students who did not share my view. As public representatives we must ensure that those who shout the loudest do not hijack this moment and rob the people of Ireland of the discussion which is so badly overdue. It is wrong that hotels, community centres and other venues feel unable to host speaking engagements or debates related to the forthcoming referendum because of health and safety concerns for their staff. Such intimidation, abuse and lack of respect has no place in a modern open democracy.

It is wrong, too, that some media outlets, particularly broadcasters, should feel anxious about discussing this topic because of fears about the regulations on balance and of a deluge of complaints from either or both sides. Stifling the debate does not serve anyone's best interest. It does not increase public awareness or knowledge and does not allow for informed voting. I believe that clear guidelines must be issued to all broadcasters so that every producer, journalist and presenter in the country is aware of what is and is not fair. True balance must not be a crude exercise in clock watching, counting seconds or minutes of air time allocated to each side. It must be based on providing the listener or viewer with informed factual debate and discussion. It must increase public knowledge. I accept that achieving this will not be easy.

A more enlightened, sophisticated and nuanced approach will be required from the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland and I look forward to those guidelines being produced at an early date.

As a campaigner, academic and the only female Independent member of Cabinet, I believe that our third level institutions such as colleges and universities also have a role to play. When others feel intimidated and unable to host events, our colleges can fill that important void. Where possible, every third level institution should make its halls, theatres and other facilities available to host events that will increase awareness in the run-in to the referendum.

The Citizens’ Assembly has continued its work since it delivered its recommendations to repeal the eighth. During its most recent sittings, it focussed on the holding of referendums generally and produced recommendations worthy of serious consideration. I look forward to studying proposals for a system of spending limits for political parties, campaign groups and individuals in referendum campaigns and a ban on anonymous donations. It also considered the issue of voter turnout and, again, I am in favour of any measure which encourages people to take part in the democratic process.

However, perhaps the most important vote it passed is a call for the Referendum Commission to give its view on factual or legal disputes that arise during campaigns. The need for such determinations is perhaps far greater for this issue than any other which has been placed before the Irish people. It is time to call out misinformation, lies and any deceitful attempt to mislead people. Attempts to use misleading posters, language or lies to heighten emotions must be exposed and materials which are blatant attempts to shock, traumatise or frighten voters have no place in a proper debate.

Repealing the eighth is a human rights issue. It must be achieved if we are to have a true republic of equals. We must repeal the eighth amendment and not replace it with other constitutional text. I acknowledge that there are some concerns about possible unintended consequences of a simple repeal. I will continue to listen to the views of legal experts and the Attorney General on this matter. If such concerns are thought to be sufficiently serious, we might propose to replace the eighth amendment with a statement that explicitly empowers the Oireachtas to regulate the availability of abortion, such as, "nothing in this Constitution prohibits abortion as provided for by law" or "the Oireachtas is hereby empowered to regulate the availability of abortion by law". However, I cannot and will not support any proposed text that would immunise legislation from judicial review and treat abortion as an almost unique matter within our constitutional system, nor a text that would purport to exhaustively lay down the situations in which we may make abortion lawfully available through legislation. The Constitution is not the place to regulate abortion. Most people recognise and agree with that.

What do we want after the eighth? After repeal we will need to replace the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act 2013 with a new law designed with the experiences and needs of pregnant people at its heart and which maximises reproductive freedom. It should never be a crime to have an abortion and doctors should be freed from providing medical care in what Rhona Mahony called "the shadow of a custodial sentence". Medical malpractice should be dealt with by the Medical Council. Any non-consensual abortion is an assault. Criminalising abortion hurts women and stigmatises their decisions. Decriminalisation is, therefore, vital. The new law should not demand a pregnant person justify herself or fall on the mercy of a handful of doctors in order to give effect to her private decision about whether or not to remain pregnant. As a result, I agree with the Citizens’ Assembly that abortion should be available on request in early pregnancy and at least until the 12th week. During that time, a woman should not have to justify herself to anyone but, rather, should be able to access abortion pills or surgical abortion on the basis of her decision alone. Women should not be required to undertake mandatory counselling or waiting periods as such rules have been shown all over the world to undermine women’s ability to make and give effect to decisions because they disadvantage young girls, women who do not live close to doctors willing to provide abortion care, women in abusive and controlling relationships and other women experiencing particular vulnerability. Although nobody should be required to undertake counselling, it should be made available to those who wish to discuss their options in a non-directive setting with someone other than their doctors and loved ones.

There may be an argument for limiting access to abortion to some extent after early pregnancy but I entirely reject any suggestion that after 12 weeks abortion should only be available in the extreme, exceptional and deeply difficult situations of risk to life, so-called fatal foetal abnormality, rape and incest. As I wrote in an article published in theIrish Independentover a year ago, such restricted grounds would help almost none of the pregnant people in Ireland who seek abortion care every day. We cannot address the socio-economic injustice of the eighth amendment with such a limited law. Instead, we have to recognise the many impacts of pregnancy on women’s physical, mental and material well-being. Our new law must ensure that whenever a pregnant woman is of the view that continuing with pregnancy would damage her health and well-being, she would not be compelled to remain pregnant against her will. The incidence of abortion later in pregnancy will be rare, as they are now. Even in countries where there is no restriction on access to lawful abortion, so-called late-term abortion is truly exceptional. The reality is that in later pregnancy abortion is almost always the product of terrible circumstances such as a devastating foetal diagnosis, a risk to the woman’s life or an illness so serious that one cannot wait. Late-term abortions are not political footballs to be kicked around in debates but, rather, personal tragedies deserving of our compassion and support. Our new law should recognise that and ensure that women who need a late-term abortion are not forced to run a gamut of endless certifications and qualifications to prove they or their foetus are sick enough to be allowed have a freely chosen abortion.

After the eighth amendment, our revisioning of reproductive rights needs to go beyond abortion. There must be a wholesale review of our systems and practices of maternal medical care, including the availability of foetal anomaly scanning, the freedom to make decisions about labour and birth plans, the physical and emotional impact of how labour is managed in Irish hospitals and the right to refuse consent to medical treatment. We must have a consistent, objective, accurate and unbiased system of personal and sexual education delivered by the State, not by charities and NGOs. We need to make contraception freely available. We must make sex a space free of coercion between sexual partners or between a woman who might get pregnant and the State that might determine her ability to bring that pregnancy to an end. We must make accurate, non-directive information about reproduction and sexual life available to all. We must support people in making choices about sex, reproduction, pregnancy, parenting and what they, rather than we, think is right.

Women know themselves. We know what we can bear and what we cannot. We know the impact of decades of reproductive coercion and the ways in which stereotypes, myths and assumptions about womanhood, motherhood, reproduction and pregnancy have underpinned that coercion. We know that we can bear no more. If we are to be the republic to which we aspire, we must repeal the eighth amendment, make abortion lawfully available and commit ourselves fully to reproductive rights for all.

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