Seán Haughey (Dublin Bay North, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The eighth amendment to the Constitution was passed in a referendum in 1983 by a 66.9% majority. I voted in favour of the amendment at that time. Article 40.3.3° states the following:

The State acknowledges the right to life of the unborn and, with due regard to the equal right to life of the mother, guarantees in its laws to respect, and, as far as practicable, by its laws to defend and vindicate that right.

A lot has happened since then. The Supreme Court ruling in the X case in 1992 said that termination should be lawful when a women's life is in danger or she is at risk of suicide. In 2013 the passing of the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act legislated for abortion in the State for the first time. It provided for access to abortion in Ireland where there was risk to the life of the mother from physical illness or from suicide. In 2016 there were 25 legal abortions carried out in Ireland. More recently the Citizens' Assembly examined the matter and the report of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution was published in December last year. I thank the Members who agreed to sit on that committee for those proceedings. It cannot have been an easy task and the time and effort they gave is appreciated by all of us.

I would, however, criticise the committee for taking a vote at an early stage to the effect that Article 40.3.3° should not be retained in full. As a result of this, other witnesses then declined to come before the committee.I believe that most, but not all, members of the committee had their minds made up on the issue before the committee commenced its hearings.

The committee voted in favour of allowing terminations if there is a real and substantial risk to the life or the health of the mother and the gestational limits will be set out in legalisation having regard to medical evidence. The committee also voted in favour of terminations where the unborn child has a life limiting condition that is likely to result in death before or shortly after birth. In this case there will be no gestational limit. Significantly, the committee recommended allowing for termination of pregnancy with no restriction as to the reason, during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. This is abortion on demand. The major recommendation of the committee was to repeal the eighth amendment outright. By any stretch of the imagination, what is being recommended is a much more liberal abortion regime which will definitely lead to more abortions in Ireland.

Abortion is a controversial issue and is a very personal one for most people. Everyone has their own personal perspective on the matter, which is informed by their own experiences. I will come to my personal experiences later. For me it is a moral and ethical issue and a matter of conscience. I believe that the unborn child is a human life with inherent rights.

As we begin this debate can I, like others, appeal for respect and tolerance for all points of view. We need a civilised discussion devoid of hatred. Hurling personal abuse at Deputies and Senators does no service to the debate. I believe too that social media, especially Twitter, is no place to debate such a complex issue. We do not need fake news or alternative facts gaining traction during the campaign. Patsy McGarry put it very well in The Irish Timesarticle on 2 January 2018:

Where differences are irreconcilable they should be accepted with the holders moving on, each respecting the integrity of the other. Because it is possible for both positions to be held with integrity, whatever the furious may claim. People of faith, who can be either anti-abortion or pro-choice, should leave the outcome to the electorate and the mercy of God. Non-believers should accept that honestly-held differences may be irreconcilable and leave the outcome to the electorate.

Perhaps this is something we can all agree on.

I shall now turn to the difficult issue of abortion and disability. In Britain, abortion is generally available up to 24 weeks of pregnancy but it is also legal for any detectable disability through all nine months of pregnancy. I was born with the condition known as cleft. I had a cleft lip and palate. This is a birth defect and results from the incomplete development of the lip and palate in the early weeks of pregnancy. The lip and primary palate develop at four to six weeks while the secondary palate develops at approximately nine weeks. The condition requires significant treatment which begins with corrective surgery within months of birth. Several other operations follow in one form or another until the person reaches their late teens or early 20s. It also requires major orthodontic treatment, speech and language therapy, and in some cases the provision of grommets for hearing difficulties. I am grateful to my parents for the time and commitment they gave to dealing with my condition. They never once complained about the ongoing surgery or my numerous trips to the Dublin Dental University Hospital. However, it would seem in Britain, for example, some potential parents see this as an inconvenience to be avoided. In 2016, official figures in the UK showed that abortions of babies with a minor facial deformity nearly tripled in the previous five years. It has become clear that a growing number of terminations are carried out due to cleft. Lives are been ended on the basis of appearance and babies must be physically perfect. This should not be the case in a humane and tolerant society.

We should also examine the situation with regard to Down's syndrome. In the UK, 90% of babies diagnosed with Down's syndrome in the

womb are aborted. According to the Danish Cytogenetic Central Register an average of 98% of babies in Denmark who are diagnosed with Down's syndrome before birth are aborted each year. In 2016 in Denmark, 137 unborn children were diagnosed with Down's syndrome and of these 133 were aborted and four were born. We need to investigate further when in pregnancy such conditions can be diagnosed.

In Britain, abortion is generally allowed up to 24 weeks and the conditions I have mentioned can be diagnosed up to this time. I am informed that pre-natal diagnosis is improving all the time and I understand that 3D ultrasound scans as well as cell free DNA testing are now more readily available. Diagnostic tests can detect Down's syndrome now at nine to 13 weeks, or in the first trimester. Academic studies suggest there is a real possibility of diagnosing cleft in the first trimester, as early as 12 weeks. Even if these tests are only available privately, the technology is improving all the time. Ireland is proposing to allow for termination of pregnancy with no restriction as to the reason, during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. I am aware that an anomaly scan normally takes place at 20 weeks but I believe that we need to consider this much more carefully and be given an objective assessment by the medical profession on the current position.

As a public representative I am fully aware that there is a certain mood for change in respect of our abortion laws, particularly in cases of rape, incest or clear-cut cases of fatal foetal abnormality. For some in the middle ground the current regime is too restrictive. The proposed legislation, however, is too extreme and goes too far. The proposals would introduce abortion on demand up to 12 weeks when we know that a baby is fully formed by this time.

I am also not in favour of an outright repeal of the eighth amendment. If this provision is repealed, we will then be on a slippery slope. If the proposed legislation is passed there will be an almost immediate demand to further liberalise our abortion laws. I can hear the demands already coming from Members on my right to increase, for example, the 12 week limit to 24 weeks. I have observed Government formation on many occasions in this House, particularly coalition Governments. Very often the minority views of a smaller party are put into the programme for Government contrary to the views of the majority.

8 o’clock

There is no doubt this would happen in this case in the future. There is a real danger that we would slide into the position whereby abortion is readily available to deal with, for example, gender, disability and socio-economic circumstances. I do not think most people would want that.

Finally, I would like to speak to the suggestion that the Government is considering inserting a new clause in the Constitution which would give the Oireachtas the exclusive power to make laws on this issue. This is a significant proposal and it should be scrutinised carefully. I would be slow to interfere with the power of the courts to interpret the Constitution. It may be that the courts in the future will further liberalise or restrict our abortion laws. Who knows? The separation of powers is a central principle of our democracy. Therefore, regardless of the substantive issue, if this proposal is part of the referendum question, I would suggest that it should be rejected on these grounds alone.

See this speech in context