Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

I wonder if the Taoiseach listened to an interview on Monday on RedFM, a Cork radio station, with a woman called Sarah. In short, Sarah is a victim of rape who was refused morning-after contraception and ended up having to go to Britain for a late abortion at great expense and trauma. In the context of a debate about unrestricted access to abortion up to 12 weeks versus restrictions, I think the interview should be required listening for everybody in the Cabinet and all other Members of the Dáil. It gets to the heart of the experience of many women in this country regarding contraception and abortion.

Sarah's experience is particularly harrowing. She was violated by a so-called friend, dismissed by a garda when she went to report the matter and disbelieved by a pharmacist. Her experience of the search for emergency contraception is mirrored by multiple accounts from women over many years. This has been raised in parliamentary questions for years, including by me in 2015, in the context of how medically unnecessary it is and also how it acts as a barrier to access. Now we have seen the consequences of this. Sarah said she was asked a series of invasive questions by a pharmacist, who said she did not believe her and did not give her access to the medication.

Some, including the Tánaiste and other Deputies, are proposing to give the same powers to doctors by introducing a rape ground within abortion legislation. The joint committee proved that this will not and cannot work for precisely the reasons Sarah experienced. Would the Taoiseach agree that it is ignorant and irresponsible of the Tánaiste and others like him to ignore that committee's research and to try to pretend that what they are proposing, which just ignores reality, can work?

This case to which I refer concerns a woman in the Tánaiste's native city. Sarah's testimony on the radio was very brave. There are a few things people should listen to before we legislate down the road on this issue. Sarah said, "I am against forced pregnancy." She said she was a living, breathing human being playing a role in society while the foetus was a potential human being. In other words, the rights of the person who is pregnant should trump other rights. She said we need to respect women to make these decisions, not to judge about good and bad abortions.

Would the Taoiseach agree that this interview underlines that access must be based on the person who is affected making the decision, not an arbitrator, the doctor, the State or whoever else? If we do not legislate for abortion up to 12 weeks on request, the abortion trail will continue and women like Sarah will continue to be counselled by taxi drivers in London, telling them to lie down in the back of the taxi. Do we want that to continue to be the case?

Is the Taoiseach going to lift the requirement for a consultation for emergency contraception and make it available over the counter, thereby ensuring that women will not have to endure the type of questioning to which I refer? Is the whole Government going to listen to the lessons of Sarah's story and unite behind the committee's recommendations for unrestricted access?

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