Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

This is a really important debate and I welcome an opportunity to make my contribution to it. As legislators and parliamentarians, on occasion we find ourselves with some very difficult decisions that require us to consult with our conscience and to consult with the people whose opinions we value. Those difficult decisions we have to take as legislators must pale into insignificance when one considers how a woman with a crisis pregnancy has to deal with the decision to terminate her pregnancy. The most important aspect of this debate is to try to factor in the women who are faced with crisis pregnancies.

In an ideal world every pregnancy would begin in a loving relationship with committed parents who would want the pregnancy to end in the birth of a healthy baby that would be brought into a loving family and be supported. That is in an ideal world. In an ideal world there would be no rape, incest, sexual abuse, sexual exploitation, child abuse or fatal foetal abnormalities but we do not live in an ideal world. Sadly, there is rape, incest, child sexual abuse, sexual exploitation and fatal foetal abnormalities diagnosed during the course of pregnancies. In that context, in the non-ideal world we live in, it is not for us as legislators to absent ourselves from that reality. It is the burden it brings that will guide me in the decision I will take in the House.

I have been on record for some time now saying I fully support the repeal of the eighth amendment and that I support the recommendations of the joint Oireachtas committee. We cannot take the decision we have to take in isolation. We must look at all the permutations and combinations and all the issues that arise in the non-ideal world we find ourselves in. It is very clear now that for generations over 5,000 Irish women have had, from their point of view, no alternative but to terminate their pregnancies. My views on this have probably changed over 20 or 30 years. When I was 18 or 19 I had a different view. Over the course of my time in public life I have had the opportunity to meet with people, women in particular, and sometimes women and men, who have had to deal with a crisis pregnancy, rape, incest or a diagnosis of fatal foetal abnormality. I know of no one, of those who have shared their stories with me, who did so easily or who felt happy at the end of the decision they had to make but it was a crisis and something which they had to do. Unfortunately, in all those cases, the termination had to be procured, either outside the State or through the acquiring of pills over the Internet.

Let us just look at the first instance of those who have had to travel. Can we in any way try to get inside the heads of the women who had to travel, many times alone, to procure a termination across the water? Can we understand the painful and lonely journey they had to make? It was the biggest crisis or the biggest issue in their lives and in many cases they had to do it alone and in shame without the benefit of the support of their doctor or medical people in the State, sometimes putting their own lives at risk in the procurement of a termination. They were not able to remain on in the care of a medical team in the UK for a number of days because they needed to be back for work. They needed to try to show normality. They wanted to hide their dark secret. The stories that have been relayed to me have weighed heavily and have assisted me in coming to terms with how we, as legislators, should deal with this. We have to consider the families who have been given a diagnosis of fatal foetal abnormality who have had to travel to Liverpool for the procurement of a termination, having the remains of their wanted and loved infant returned by DHL or some other means, adding further trauma to the pain they have already suffered. The young women who seek to terminate a pregnancy by obtaining pills over the Internet which will bring on a miscarriage do so in lonely bedrooms or sheds dotted around the country. They do so without the benefit of assistance from a medical practitioner. There is no knowledge of where the pills have come from or the quality of the drugs that have been used to make the pills. There is no traceability or guidance about how they are taken or whether it is safe for someone to take them based on other medication they might be on. These are all decisions that are taken without the appropriate level of medical care. I can only speak for me. I have an independent voice and I am very fortunate to be part of a party that has the capacity to take decisions independent of the party Whip. I cannot stand over a law or an element in the Constitution that deprives the care and support of the State to women who find themselves in those circumstances. The State, through its laws, should cherish all its individuals equally. Unfortunately in this case, it does not. For the women who have to terminate a pregnancy in the UK or in the loneliness of their bedrooms through the taking of these pills, we have to bring about a change in the law so those women get the same protection as if they lived in another state within the European Union. It is of vital importance that we move hastily to address this issue.

There are real questions and concerns. Some of the language that is being used in this debate refers to unrestricted access to abortion up to 12 weeks. I do not see it as unrestricted access to abortion. I have read the report and my understanding is that the recommendation of the joint Oireachtas committee is that these decisions will be taken by a woman in consultation with her doctor. That is not unrestricted or unregulated. What sure as hell is unrestricted and unregulated is the procurement of pills over the Internet taken in isolation and without the best medical advice. We have a responsibility to face up to that reality that exists in this non-ideal world that we occupy. We have to change the laws in a way that meets the needs of the society in which we find ourselves.

9 o’clock

We must trust women. We must trust that women, in consultation with their doctors, clinicians and nurses, will do the right thing by themselves. The laws must be there to protect them and I feel that if society has learned anything over the past decades, it is that we must trust women. For far too long, this House and other places were populated largely by men who did not understand or have the benefit of the voices of women. If anything has come about as a consequence of various debates in recent years, it is that we have learned the necessity of trusting women.

I hope that in the coming months we have an open and broadminded debate, that it is respectful, that everybody has the capacity to listen to others but that there is no lecturing or hectoring or attempting to change people's minds. Some people have already come to a conclusion on this and others should not expect their minds to be changed but having an open and full debate might help those outside the House who have not made up their minds to help them come to the conclusion they must before they cast their vote. I intend, where I am asked, to express my views and opinions to assist people and explain why I reached my decisions. If that is considered campaigning, then that is campaigning. If people take something from that, it is well and good. I hope that they will also listen to people of a different persuasion so that they might make their own judgment based on all the information.

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