John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this debate today. The eighth amendment to the Constitution, on which, as a young man I cast my vote in favour, has vexed, challenged and tangled the courts and political system of this country for over 30 years. I thank my own party leader, Deputy Micheál Martin, for having had the wisdom and foresight some years ago to grasp that the issue of abortion and the right to life of the unborn are matters of conscience for members of Fianna Fáil, and for allowing each elected party member of the Oireachtas the freedom and space to articulate our own position on the matter without being subject to a party whip.

It is worth dwelling on the idea of a free vote for a moment. Free votes are rarely permitted by parties or groupings in either European or Westminster-style parliaments. They are also extremely rare in Ireland with only four free votes identified since 1970. While a free vote permits freedom to exercise one's own view on an issue of conscience, it equally removes the comfort of being able to hide behind a party whip. It places a responsibility on each individual to come forward and state his or her own, position on the issue in question and to outline the reasons he or she has adopted such a position. Therefore, in many respects a free vote is a more challenging prospect for a parliamentarian.

I want to pay tribute to the work of Ms Justice Laffoy and the members of the Citizens’ Assembly for their deliberations on the matter, deliberations which have been thought-provoking and valuable and which have made a significant contribution in the context of this ongoing debate. I know that there are those who feel that the assembly was not truly representative of all the people, or that it did not reflect fully the complex context of the debate. If that is true, and I have spent some time watching the proceedings on the assembly, then the establishment of a special Oireachtas committee on the eighth amendment, offered the initial opportunity for elected public representatives to consider the topic and hear at first hand the evidence of key witnesses. If the Oireachtas committee can be criticised for not facilitating the widest possible consideration of the eighth amendment, and for some it clearly did not, then the opportunity has now arrived for all democratically elected representatives of the people, from every corner of Ireland, representing every possible viewpoint, to give their considered and informed views on the outcomes and deliberations of both the Citizens’ Assembly and the Oireachtas committee, and to do so freely and without fear of interference or the accusation of bias on either side. Ultimately, as is proper in a republic, the people will be asked to adjudicate on the matter.

I thank all the members of the Oireachtas committee for their diligence and extraordinary commitment to the work and deliberations of the committee. I want to commend particularly, my own colleagues, Deputies Billy Kelleher, Anne Rabbitte, James Browne and Lisa Chambers and Senator Ned O’Sullivan for representing as wide as possible a range of viewpoints on the matter and specifically for the countless hours they dedicated to attendance at the committee since last September.

Like my colleagues, I have received hundreds of correspondences from constituents on this subject and continue to do so. I have made myself available and responded to those who sought to meet me personally to discuss the eighth amendment over recent weeks and I will continue to do so. I have met them in my office in Tallaght and at my clinics in Rathfarnham, and elsewhere, and I have heard and been touched by stories from both sides of the debate. I have been touched by stories on both sides in my own personal, political and professional life.

Above all, it is important to me that this debate is carried out in a spirit of calm understanding, with respect for divergent views and tolerance. Like many people, I am conflicted by many aspects of the debate. I find it difficult to accept the extremes articulated at opposite ends of the spectrum of discussion: on the one hand the view that completely ignores the unborn and on the other the viewpoint that ignores the rights of women. The Oireachtas committee concluded after its deliberations that some change is needed and after 30 years of divisive debate, it is difficult to counter that argument. It is difficult to counter that argument specifically in the context of rape, fatal foetal abnormality and incest. The Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act provides protection for women only where there is a real threat to the life of a woman and not to her health, and in the case of suicide. Contrary to the wild assertions at the time of the Act that scores of women would use the Act to spuriously procure a termination, data suggests that approximately 25 terminations have taken place under its provisions. The evidence given to the committee by medical professionals is that the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act has created significant difficulties for medical practitioners.

The Citizens’ Assembly recommended that the termination of pregnancy that is the result of rape be lawful up to a 22 week gestational limit. The Oireachtas committee rejected this gestational period and favour a period up to 12 weeks. I believe that it should be lawful to terminate a pregnancy that is the result of rape or other sexual assault, if a woman so chooses. I trust women and I share the committee’s recommendations that it would be unreasonable to insist on the reporting of rape as a precondition for exercising any right to terminate a pregnancy that has resulted from rape or sexual assault and I subscribe to the committee’s view that there is a need to avoid the further traumatisation of a victim of rape or sexual assault.

In the case of foetal abnormality that is likely to result In the case of death either shortly before or shortly after birth, the Citizens' Assembly recommended that termination of pregnancy should be lawful without gestational limit. I am acutely mindful that the issue of fatal foetal abnormality concerns a much-wanted pregnancy and not an unwanted pregnancy. The Oireachtas committee recommended that it should be lawful to terminate a pregnancy without gestational limit where the unborn child has a foetal abnormality that is likely to result in death before or shortly after birth. I trust women and I share the committee’s recommendation with respect to fatal foetal abnormalities, if a woman so chooses this course of action, and not all women may exercise such a choice. The idea that a woman, with a much-wanted pregnancy, who is faced with the traumatic diagnosis of fatal foetal abnormality, who chooses to terminate under existing law, has to travel abroad to undergo that termination, is repugnant to me.

This is a challenging issue for people. The people are entitled to be consulted. For most it is a decision of conscience. Our far-seeing Constitution, drafted in an era when dictators were gathering and consolidating ever-increasing powers to themselves, allows the people a significant say on vital matters through the provision of referendums. What is possibly to be placed before the people is a referendum to repeal Article 40.3.3°, repeal simpliciter, or to repeal and replace Article 40.3.3° with a clause that empowers the Legislature exclusively to legislate for matters of abortion.

The option to repeal and replace with such a clause was the option favoured by the Citizens' Assembly but discounted on a number of grounds by the Oireachtas joint committee.

I favour the facilitation of a referendum of the people on the matter of repeal and I support a referendum where my vote will be like the vote of any other citizen with exactly the same weight.

I do not want the opportunity of the debate to slip by without commenting on the ancillary recommendations of the Oireachtas joint committee in chapter 3 of its report. These recommendations deal with the provision of the most effective method of contraception, free of charge and having regard to personal circumstances, to all who wish to avail of them within the State. The Oireachtas joint committee is of the opinion that there is a clear link between effective sex education and lower levels of crisis pregnancies. I also support the committee's recommendations that: all women should have access to the same standard of obstetrical care, including early scanning, testing and anomaly scans, irrespective of geographic location and having regard to socioeconomic status; improvements should be made to counselling and support facilities for women during and after pregnancy, including post-termination; and perinatal hospice services be made available to women who require them.

I have just come from a parliamentary party meeting which was conducted in an atmosphere of calm, utter respect and understand of varying views. It is clear that Fianna Fáil, as a party, is a warm place for those with pro-life views and that those views are well represented in our party. Equally, it is clear that Fianna Fáil represents other views, including my own, and emerging perspectives on the subject. This is what makes us a republican party.

I support the repeal of the eighth amendment and I trust women.

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