Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

Having been there in 1983, I remember that the eighth amendment was seen very much as a line in the sand for the deeply conservative and darkly religious regime which had dominated this country since the foundation of the State. Since 1983, we have learned a great deal with the exposure of all of the scandals around the treatment of women and children in institutions like the Magdalen laundries and the Tuam mother and baby home. However, we still have a great deal to learn about how we treat women's health. We need to bring closure quickly to the questions of symphisiotomy and the cervical cancer scandal. That line in the sand is gone for the old conservative religious dogma of this country and the tide is gushing in.

The Dáil needs to look seriously over the next period at the question of the separation of church and State. Yesterday, I was contacted by a couple from Limerick who spoke to me after I tabled the €1 Bill to decriminalise the abortion pill in 2016. In 2016, they had just returned from Liverpool with their little baby girl in a box in the back of the car. They were extraordinarily sad but wanted to thank all of the Deputies in the Dáil who supported repeal. Since 2016, they have had a baby who is now four months old. They had decided they were not going to have any more children because they might be put through the trauma of being exiled from their own country. They have now decided to try again. To those who were telling us we were baby-killers, the impact of the eighth amendment on women's health has been lifted and people can see what are the real issues in maternity care.

The key issue in this debate was choice. Consistently, 62% of the people said women should be given a choice. Now that they have a choice, they need to be able to choose, not only to control the number of children they have and the number of pregnancies they are able to terminate, but to be able to say they want a family. For that, they need a home, education and health care. The Government has failed miserably to provide tens of thousands of people with that choice. It is a serious economic, social and political issue which we need to address together as a community which has fought and won this magnificent referendum in big numbers. We need to get real choice for all women of all classes.

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