Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I will be brief because while today is an incredibly important day, in some ways it is a sort of abstract day. It is an important stage in the process in delivering access to abortion to women. People have crusaded for this important day over decades since the insertion of the eighth amendment in the Constitution in the first place. At times I am sure many people thought we would never get here. Now that we are here, we need to leave much of the input to the experts.

What is happening today? Today sees the introduction of the Second Stage legislation in the post-repeal the eighth amendment era. It is incredible that we are still able to say that now and it has not really kicked in. We are in a post-eighth amendment scenario where everything is different, but yet, as it stands, everything has remained the same. As legislators, we have been charged with putting together the best and most comprehensive legislation that gives a voice to our citizens who have engaged in this debate over not just the past year but years in many instances. That is all we have been asked to do.

Last week I attended a press conference by the Abortion Rights Campaign, advertising last Saturday's march. It was attended by the excellent Dr. Mary Favier, a GP who, along with her colleagues, will be at the forefront of service delivery. She made the point that the law is one thing, but implementation is an entirely different matter. Some jurisdictions have perfect law on paper, but in reality women find it difficult to access services. In other instances it is the reverse. The important job is to ensure that Irish women in whatever circumstance have access to abortions where they need them. The people have spoken clearly. What was put before them was access to abortion up to 12 weeks' gestation without any restriction or justification as to reason. Our job is to introduce legislation that facilitates that.

Other Deputies have highlighted some of the shortcomings in the legislation before us today. I do not see any merit in me repeating those points. For some time organisations, such as the Irish Family Planning Association, IFPA, have soldiered on dealing with women's reproductive health issues. They not only provided the services but also had to crusade for legislative change. We now expect those organisations to be at the forefront of service delivery in a post-eighth amendment scenario. If we are expecting that, as we are, we need to listen to what they have to say. They have articulated it and other Deputies have referenced their submissions. It is our job to do that and the Bill as it is tabled does not do that. It is great that is there, but it needs to be changed and improved.

The IFPA made the point that the people spoke clearly about providing access to abortion, but the legislation does not mention the word "abortion" anywhere. I see nothing wrong with including "access to abortion" in the Title. In the previous Dáil Deputy Wallace tabled the first initiatives relating to broadening access to abortion in Ireland. At that time, Alison Spillane worked in Deputy Wallace's office and she has now gone to the IFPA. That organisation has been to the fore and its views have to be taken on board.

The biggest weakness, which needs to be addressed more than anything, is the issue of continued criminality. As the Minister knows, we all sat through the hearings of the Oireachtas joint committee, the Citizens' Assembly and so on. It was very clear that restrictive abortion legislation does not prevent abortion. It just means they happen later or are more unsafe. It is very clear that criminalisation causes stigma and causes harm, and people want to move away from that.

As other Deputies have said section 5(1) continues to make broad provision for criminalising the activity. It is very unusual when compared with other healthcare legislation, which is much more specific in terms of what constitutes an offence. This creates a grey area for doctors. We cannot divorce this from the fact that the HSE has not been women-friendly in terms of providing proper reproductive care for women in the State. Without full decriminalisation, we are getting into problems here. The chilling effect continues. The signal to doctors is that this legislation is just the same as the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act with slightly broader parameters. If we do not address the issue there, we will have very serious problems. It is not really human rights compliant unless we move to total decriminalisation.

Other Deputies have spoken about the waiting period. The World Health Organization has stated that such a waiting period is a barrier to accessing safe abortion. We heard from the best, including legislators in the Netherlands and so on who were very clear. Deciding to have an abortion, like deciding to have a child, is a very serious decision. No woman makes that decision lightly. I have no problem with time being provided for people to make that decision, but I do not need to tell people that. People already allow themselves as much time as they need to make that decision.

Unfortunately, sometimes people do not have that freedom. They may be in a job with an employer who might make it difficult for them to get time off. They may need to access the abortion pill over the weekend and so on. The time period for thinking about it must be, as in the Netherlands, from the first phone call. I do not think anyone would have a problem like that. When moving into periods of later gestational limits, however, and a doctor then operating on the basis that he or she might be criminalised later on, it is too dangerous unless we tackle that issue. Therefore the section on the waiting period needs to be firmed up.

I refer to what constitutes a pregnant person and a medical practitioner. Other countries, such as the UK, are moving away from a system dependent on nurses and midwives, and the facility is widely available in the early stages in primary healthcare and so on. We cannot restrict and outlaw those providers from being able to provide the facility later on.

I will not repeat points made by others. I see no point in that. The issues have been well flagged by people at the coalface. This is only a symbolic day because the real body of work will be done in committee. There is an acceptance on this side of the House that the Bill needs to be amended. We are very glad it is there. We are very clear about what the people have spoken on. At the moment it needs to be improved in line with the wishes of the people. That is what we will be doing on Committee and Report Stages.

We welcome this strategic landmark. That is what it is and we should be glad to recognise it. It is a long time coming in a country that has not treated women appropriately in terms of childbirth and so on. I welcome that the Minister has brought it to the floor of the House and I look forward to working constructively to make it better and fit for purpose when it emerges from Committee and Report Stages.

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