Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

This referendum to repeal the eighth amendment is fundamentally about trust. First and foremost it is about the willingness of our society to trust women and to accept that women are equal citizens with a right to health and to make health decisions for themselves. It is also about trusting our medical professionals faced with difficult situations and decisions, and it is about trusting the electorate to come to a decision that removes from the Constitution an amendment which should never have been there in the first place.

The issue of women’s health should never be a matter for a constitution.  It should be legislated for in the normal way through the Oireachtas. I welcome the publication today of the Government’s policy paper. Sinn Féin will study it closely. Tá mé fíorbhuíoch den Aire fá choinne a fhocail inniu.

I commend the Government on the proposed wording for the referendum. It allocates responsibility for legislating in a very simple and clear way, and provides that women’s health will be legislated in the Oireachtas and by the Government, as is right. The eighth amendment prohibits access to basic medical treatment that should be available to women in any developed society. It is unjust, and we as legislators have a responsibility to end that injustice. The business of the State should be to ensure women have access to proper health services if they need them and if they choose to avail of them. The State has a responsibility to support women. 

None of us should try to fool ourselves.  Abortion is a reality here. Every day, here and in neighbouring states, Irish women are having abortions. Ten will leave today, and every day, for that reason. In my own constituency of Louth and east Meath, the official figures tell us that at least 83 women travelled to Britain for an abortion in 2016. In Dublin 1,175 women travelled that year, and across this State, at least 3,265 women travelled to Britain for an abortion in 2016. It is estimated that in the past 40 years, at least 170,000 Irish women travelled to other states for abortions. That means as many as 3,300 women travelled for abortions during that time from Louth. Thousands more are now using abortion pills that can be accessed over the Internet. They do so without medical supervision.

The Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, speaking in the Dáil in January revealed a 62% increase in the number of women from this State contacting one particular online provider over a five-year period. The number seeking pills increased from 548 women in 2010 to 1,438 in 2015. Do we want this to continue or do we want a mature society, tolerant and compassionate, open and inclusive and based on equality? Alternatively, are the attitudes from the time of the industrial schools, the Magdalen laundries and the mother and baby homes to prevail, when women were treated as chattels with no rights or protections? If we vote "No", we will be dismissing and condemning women.

The victims of rape and incest and women with fatal foetal abnormalities are not anonymous people. They are not statistics. These are our family members, our friends and neighbour and our workmates. They need to be treated with love and compassion. Winning this referendum will take hard work and leadership. I appeal for a reasoned, respectful and sympathetic debate. We must not and cannot let women down again. An uachtarán Shinn Féin, Deputy McDonald, speaking on this issue in January described the eighth amendment as a constitutional coup and the reactionary codification of the suppression of women. She is right. Níl aon áit ag sláinte na mban sa Bhunreacht. Ceist príobháideach é idir bhean agus a dochtúir. Tá freagracht agus dualgas orainn maidir leis an bhfeachtas chun an t-ochtú leasú a aisghairm agus, mar reachtóirí, reachtaíocht a chruthú má tá saoránaigh in aghaidh an Achta sin.

It is time for women to make their own decisions and for us to support them to do this. Bí fíorchinnte nach mbeidh saoirse ar bith ann gan saoirse na mban. It is time to trust women on this issue. Any decision about women's health must be made by women and their doctors. It is time to trust ourselves.

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