Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I am sharing time with Deputy Kelly.

My party’s support for this proposal is well known. We supported it at the all-party committee and we support it today. I am pleased that on this truly important matter of social policy, the Labour Party will speak with one clear and unified voice.

I will address a number of the arguments I have seen made against the proposal, largely outside the House. However, let us also be honest. This is not a pro-choice amendment. That is not the type of the discussion that took place at the Citizens' Assembly or the Oireachtas committee.

It was an open, listening, inclusive debate, grappling with truly important issues.

The proposal before us, and I do not shy away from the fact that the 12 week recommendation is integral to the proposal, is what I would call a hard cases proposal. It arises from a widely held acceptance that the eighth amendment does not afford adequate protection to the lives and health of women, and that there are cases and instances where the termination of a pregnancy is the compassionate and right thing to do. I refer, of course, to the tragedy of fatal foetal abnormalities, pregnancy arising from rape and incest, and cases that impact upon the health of women. It is critical to recall that the reason the all-party committee achieved the level of agreement that it did is because, after detailed and careful consideration of the issue, it could see no practical way to address these issues without allowing for the recommendation that abortion be permitted up to 12 weeks' gestation. That proposal came about because it was and remains the only way of addressing these hard cases. Any other approach, for example, one which seeks to prove rape or incest, would be impossible and indeed unacceptable. Once again, policemen and lawyers would move in where doctors and medical practitioners should be the people assisting women at a time of distress.

I have respect for the Tánaiste. I do not doubt his own sincerity in struggling with this issue. It is instructive, however, that he has been unable to answer his own question about any alternative approach for dealing with those hard issues. I do not believe that the Taoiseach, the Minister for Health, who is present, or the leader of Fianna Fáil would have arrived at the positions they arrived at if there was a viable alternative approach. For this reason I reject the argument that politicians cannot be trusted with this issue and cannot be allowed to take this in a compassionate way. That was the spurious argument made in 1983. I believe the real position is the exact opposite. Politicians, no more than any other citizen, struggle with this issue and act in accordance with their consciences. If afforded the responsibility of legislating for this issue, I am confident that all the Members of these Houses will do so in accordance with their best beliefs, the balance of advice afforded to them by medical experts, and in the best interests, as we perceive it, of the people of this Republic.

I share the ambition of the Taoiseach that abortion should be safe, legal and rare. As the Minster responsible for the legislation liberalising the law on contraception 25 years ago, I welcome the proposal from the Minister for Health to expand access to contraception. I recognise too that abortion takes place in this country already. The abortion pill is perhaps the transformative medical disruption since the last referendum. It is a fact that cannot be ignored that many Irish people import abortion pills and take them in their own homes. That is illegal as the law now stands. Does any Member of this House seriously suggest that we now set about arresting, prosecuting and jailing all the women who have imported or taken these pills, or those who will take them tomorrow or the day after? Some extremists might favour that course of action. I honestly believe that most Irish people would recoil at the prospect.

It is not a choice between the perfect abortion-free world of the eighth amendment and a liberal abortion regime. That is a false dichotomy. The perfect world of the eighth amendment never existed. It was a cop-out, perhaps for many a well-intentioned cop-out, but a cop-out nonetheless. As such it prevents this nation from addressing this issue in the manner we might otherwise have done. Others, I am afraid, would like us to look away and pretend what is happening is not happening in Ireland. For them, there is no abortion here. That happens somewhere else and is not our responsibility. Our consciences are clear. The truth is that Irish women travel every day to the United Kingdom and elsewhere to avail of abortion facilities. We all know that to be the case. We passed a referendum to facilitate it. It happened before 1983 and has happened every day since.

Contrary to the suggestion of some, what the all-party Oireachtas committee proposed does not put Ireland among the cohort of the most liberal abortion regimes in Europe. That is simply not a fact. It puts us in the sensible mainstream, a point informed by our belated recognition of the challenges women face on an ongoing basis. I do not think it is an accident that we are discussing this issue now, when we have come to realise the manner in which we have respected and treated women historically in this land. I read last week of comments made by the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection, Deputy Regina Doherty, on the issue. I do not believe she intended to do this, but a clarification I think is required.

Whatever people feel about the outcome of this referendum, whether they are satisfied or not, I believe this referendum is a once in a generation opportunity to address this issue for a new generation. Were we to lose, for instance, those of us supporting this proposal, having made the argument that a new generation were entitled to have their say on this issue, would have to accept the outcome as resolved for the foreseeable future. I make this point so that we can avoid complacency on this issue. This is our opportunity to change an amendment that fulfilled the worst fears of those who opposed it and never fulfilled the dreams of those who supported it.

I conclude with remarks made by my former colleague and party leader, Dick Spring, speaking on the equivalent debate 35 years ago or so. Opposing the Bill, he said that if this clause is inserted in our Constitution then that document will enshrine an attitude to women which verges on contempt. Ireland was a very different place in 1983. The Ireland of 2018 has faced many problems and issues and has recognised the dark recesses of our past, particularly this nation's treatment of women. I believe that we must now face the issue of abortion as an issue for us to settle for our people, on our soil, with compassion, understanding and empathy.

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