Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The questions being debated are these: should the eighth amendment be removed from the Constitution; and if so, under what conditions should abortion be available in Ireland? I will address each of these but before I do, I would like to recognise that there is a wide range of views, both in the Oireachtas and in the country, and say that I believe those on both sides hold their views with sincerity and conviction. The debate in the Oireachtas has been one of passion and respect and I hope that will continue, here and around the country, in the coming months.

I believe the eighth amendment should be repealed. As for the conditions under which abortion should be available, I believe the committee recommendations have got the balance right and I will speak to these shortly.

At the heart of this debate is a question of control by the State of women and women's bodies and on that question, Ireland has a dark and shameful history. We are becoming more aware of the outrage that was the Magdalen laundries where women were literally incarcerated as prisoners. Those who were pregnant had their babies taken from them, and sold. We are just recently aware of the Tuam mother and baby home and when that report is published, it will detail yet another horrific chapter in the institutional abuse of women with crisis pregnancies in Ireland.

While this level of horror may be in the past, the State still has a long way to go when it comes to equal opportunities for pregnant women and mothers. The survivors of symphysiotomy campaigned for years but were ignored. A pension gap exists for many parents, the majority of whom are mothers who left work to raise their children. Child care costs remain among the highest in the world - a barrier for all parents, in particular, mothers, and affecting their career choices. The rate of enforcement of maintenance payments in Ireland, in the main, required by mothers, is one of the lowest in Europe. Ireland's maternity pay is one of the lowest in Europe. The biggest rise in deprivation during the crash was experienced by lone parents, the majority of whom are mothers.

Then, of course, there is the eighth amendment. Combined with the subsequent Supreme Court ruling on the X case, it means that abortion is only permitted in Ireland if there is a real and substantial risk to the life, as opposed to the health, of the mother. Under any other circumstances, it is a criminal offence with a prison sentence of up to 14 years. This includes cases where the health of the mother could be seriously damaged. It includes fatal foetal abnormality, incest and rape. It exposes vulnerable women in our country every single day.

Earlier today I had the following experience shared with me. A few years ago, "A" was 18 years old when she became pregnant. She was in first year in university and had just moved out of home. None of her school friends was attending her college and none of her family lived nearby. She was in a bad relationship which broke up, with her believing that she was free of him. One night, several months later, he arrived to her house drunk and he raped her. She became pregnant. When she found out, she flew to the United Kingdom. She took a long bus journey and booked into a cheap bed and breakfast. Then, on her own, she had an abortion. She told her friends she was travelling to the UK to visit relatives and she told her family she was travelling with her friends. Later, she admitted that she feared that she would be arrested for what she has done. She would not have been arrested but if she had had the abortion in Ireland, under the current law, she could have received a longer jail sentence than the man who raped her. That is the legal position in this country today. That is what is causing women, such as this one, to go abroad and do what they have to do instead of being cared for here.

The eighth amendment does not prevent abortion. What it does is force women with crisis pregnancies, including those who have been raped, to travel abroad or to order an abortion pill online, which they take with no clinical or social support. What the eighth amendment does is force women with unviable pregnancies to either carry to full term or seek clinical help from another country. Who has the right to force this on women? I do not believe I have that right. I do not believe anyone here has that right. I do not believe the State has that right. The eighth amendment is not fit for purpose. It should never have been put in the Constitution and it needs to be repealed.

Under what conditions should abortion be available in Ireland? The committee is recommending the following: unrestricted access up to 12 weeks, in part to account for cases of rape and incest; where there is fatal-foetal abnormality; and where there is a risk to the life or health of the mother, including both mental and physical health. The recommendation from the committee is that the assessment of risk should be made by at least two specialist physicians.

Some believe the recommendations of the committee do not go far enough. For example, the Citizens' Assembly recommended an unrestricted period of 22 weeks compared to the 12 weeks recommended by the committee. Others believe the recommendations go too far, with some, for example, supporting repeal and abortion in the case of rape, incest or fatal foetal abnormality, but being uncomfortable about the 12 week period.

The committee recommendations have struck the right balance. For example, without this unrestricted period of 12 weeks, it would not be possible to legislate for abortion up to 12 weeks in the case of rape. The reality, of course, is that abortion is already happening in Ireland, unrestricted, close to 12 weeks, via the abortion pill. The committee recommendations would not make abortion more widely available in Ireland. What they would do is allow Ireland provide the clinical and social supports these women need.

There is evidence of other countries liberalising their abortion regimes and ending up with lower rates of abortion, and if that is what we want here in Ireland too, then there are other things we need to do as well as repeal the eighth amendment. We need better prosecution rates in cases of rape. We need better enforcement of maintenance payments.

We need to provide free child care services in colleges and in situations in which mothers need free, decent quality child care to allow them to get on with their lives and have the baby. We need to improve maternity payments. It is outrageous that in a country as wealthy as ours we have some of the lowest maternity payments in Europe. When it comes to pregnancy, particularly crisis pregnancy, the Irish State has a history of trying to control women, and this has led to bad, dark, shameful outcomes, many of which we are only beginning to learn about now. From forcing women to leave work to incarcerating them, to taking their babies away from them, to not providing the care they and their babies needed, leading to infant mortality. This must end. The State must start trusting women and clinicians and start accepting that, between them, they know what to do in these situations.

It is important that the voices of women are to the fore in this debate. Women are still in a relatively small minority in this House. It is important their voices are heard in this House, in the Seanad and across the country. When that debate has concluded, it is my hope that the eighth amendment will be repealed and removed from our Constitution. It is my hope that the recommendations of the committee will be seen in the legislation to be proposed and ultimately passed by the Oireachtas. It is my belief that this will lead to a more compassionate Ireland. It is my belief that repealing the eighth and following through with the committee recommendations would be important steps on a road to a truly equal Ireland.

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