Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am pleased to be able to speak on the Bill. I have many concerns about its very rushed nature, which I will address in my remarks. The manner in which the Government has dealt with this referendum Bill has been nothing short of disgraceful. No rationale has been offered as to why the entire process has had to lead to a mad rush towards 25 May as the date of the proposed referendum that will strip unborn children of all constitutional protection if the eighth amendment is removed. How tragically ironic that 25 May is national missing children's day in the United States, whose abortion regime we are set to follow in so many ways. Recently, the Taoiseach used the phrase "safe, legal and rare" which he copied from Hillary Clinton. Is 50 million safe, legal or rare? If it is, they are badly mixed up. We will follow in so many ways and I will say more on this later.

We now know the decision of the Supreme Court to reject the High Court finding that the unborn child enjoyed significant constitutional protections beyond the eighth amendment was an historic lost opportunity. The decision of the Supreme Court was profoundly disturbing to me and many others. It has demonstrated with absolute clarity the eighth amendment is now the only defence the unborn child has against arbitrary decisions of a future Oireachtas and politicians on the extent and grounds upon which abortion may be obtained, and we know this. We also know if the eighth amendment is removed, Bills will be introduced here the week after to extend the time in terms of the gestation period. In light of this, the stakes could not be higher in terms of the need to retain Article 40.3.3°.

Despite the unanimous decision of the eminent justices, there was actually no true justice contained in the court's judgment. It has effectively put at zero the reality of the unborn child as a living breathing member of the human family that is uniquely vulnerable and open to attack. While I do not believe the eighth amendment will be repealed, regardless of today's decision, I do think that if the Government's hostile, manipulative and aggressively pro-choice agenda is successfully perpetrated upon the people, then the court's decision may be seen as the Irish equivalent of Roe v. Wade all that time ago in the United States. That historic decision of the US Supreme Court essentially shot down possible constitutional protections and handed over to US state politicians the power of life and death over the unborn child. I mentioned the more than 50 million babies lost since that judgment. The questions we must ask ourselves now is do we really want to hand such power over to our political leaders and can we live with the consequences if we do. These are very important questions that will be put to the people.

I want to raise the recent findings of the very respected poll published this week of our GPs, in respect of the provision of abortion services. The poll of general practitioners found that two thirds of those asked stated they will refuse to comply with Government proposals to designate them as lead providers for abortion services. Is mór an trua é go bhfuil an tAire imithe. The Minister has left. He announced in the previous debate that GPs would be summarily instructed to be front-line deliverers of the abortion service even though he had not asked them or consulted. This is the answer. The Irish Independentreported that nearly seven in ten of the 497 GPs who voted in a closed doctors' forum stated they would not be involved in medical abortions. This was a closed forum and it was not just anyone that was phoned up or completed it online as in other polls. This is 70%, which is pretty concerning, and if the Government does not want to listen to that who will it listen to? It did not listen when it forced free GP care for those aged under six. We see the bedlam this has caused. By any fair standard, this ought to be a devastating and potentially fatal blow to a central feature of the Government's plan on how it wants to roll out unrestricted abortion access up to 12 weeks.

It also demonstrates the absurdity of the claims that were made by the Chairperson of the Joint Committee on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution that it could not find a single GP opposed to the repeal of Article 40.3.3°. It could not find one, but 70% of them have come out clearly. They were not asked, sought, allowed or wanted.

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