Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak here tonight. It is not my first time to speak on this particular issue in the Chamber. I served on the Oireachtas Joint Committee on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution. Like many other people, I am torn by the whole issue and have been from the very beginning. I am clear about that. At present, the debate is on the referendum and on the issue going to the people. One reason I am speaking tonight is to state I will be supporting the fact that there will be a referendum. The people put it into the Constitution and it is the people's choice to do with it what they so wish, that is, to leave it in the Constitution or to remove it from the Constitution. I have only one vote, no different from anybody else who is over 18 years of age and that is how I will be exercising it.

However, on the substantive issue as to how does Anne Rabbitte feel on it, I always have been very clear. I always said I was open minded but when we are drilling down into it, I will not be supporting the repeal of the Eighth Amendment. I will not be supporting the 12 weeks. That is not something I am comfortable with in my conscience for all the reasons my colleague, Deputy Troy, has outlined here. I do not believe we have the systems in place to support women who wish to carry babies to full term. I do not believe we have the right perinatal hospice care. I do not believe we have the same standards of care throughout the entire country. That is regrettable and when the various people from the various medical professions appeared before the Oireachtas committee, they told us it is not equal throughout the entire country. That is wrong. Why should a person on the west coast or the east coast not gain the same care? We are not providing that for them.

There is another issue. We talked about contraception. The morning-after pill to me is one huge issue outstanding that we should be addressing at this very moment. I refer to the fact that there is a charge of €30 for it. There should be no charge for it because we could have an immediate support for people who find themselves in a crisis situation. That can be addressed. To some people, €30 is a large amount of money. I refer to the 17 year old, the 16 year old or to whosoever of whatever age. They should be given that right and that access opportunity. I listened to "Morning Ireland" this morning and that story undoubtedly was hard-hitting. We heard that story at the committee when the man sat in front of us and told us his story. It was different when we heard the husband who had supported his wife through that entire journey. I think it took him a number of years to recover from it.

While I do not support what is before us at present, I do not have the right to impose the story we listened to this morning on anybody. Unfortunately, however, given the way it is worded at the moment, there are no other forms of discussion. That is where I have a difficulty, namely, with the 12 weeks and the way it is being presented. I wish for a respectful debate and I would like to think that all times when it was being discussed by the committee and since it has come in here to the House, the debate has been totally respectful. It should continue in that manner. We do, however, need to inform the people and not scare them. They should be given true facts and not false facts. That goes for anybody on whatever side they are supporting. Scaring people into thinking that they have to vote a particular way is not right either. Let them hear the full stories and let them hear more of Ciara's story. I also welcome the opportunity to listen to the story of the lady who will appear on tomorrow morning's programme. They are the people who will inform us. They are the people who have worn the shoes.

We also have to listen to the women who choose to bring a child to full term. We have to listen to what supports they found they did not receive, as well as the time they spent with that baby, whether for five seconds or five minutes, and the benefits they got from that. We also need to know exactly the role the GP is going to perform in all of this and if we have them all on board. There is no point in bringing everybody to the top of the hill if we do not have the supports when this is passed or rejected. There are lessons to be learned from what we need to do, particularly with perinatal hospice care.

I have made it clear that I want to support a referendum. I did not vote in the last one. I will be telling everybody to come out. The only way it will be delivered is in the ballot box and everyone putting in their vote.

See this speech in context