Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Viability, the point at which a baby is viable outside of the womb, is a clinical judgment.

It is not as simple as just saying a certain number of weeks so that has to be a clinical judgement for the doctors concerned taking into account the gestation, the size of the foetus and the weight. Taking those three things into account, the two doctors - there must be two doctors, both of whom are on the specialist register, to certify a termination beyond 12 weeks - will make the judgment as to whether or not the pregnancy has reached viability. A pregnancy can only be terminated after 12 weeks if two doctors, both of whom are on the specialist register, determine that there is a serious risk to the life or health of the mother and that the pregnancy is not viable. If it has reached the point of viability, a compassionate early delivery occurs and every effort is made to save the life of the baby at that point as well as the life of the mother.

The legislation being put forward by the Government is not extreme. It is considerably more conservative than the situation in the UK or the Netherlands. It is very similar to the law in Germany. One individual I met on the doorstep last night was a woman from Germany who explained to me how it works there. It is very similar to what we have proposed where there is a cooling-off period of 72 hours, which gives the woman concerned a crucial period in which to consider other options and avail of counselling. This is a much better situation than the current one where people acquire the pills over the Internet without medical support or counselling.

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