Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am grateful for the opportunity to contribute to the Second Stage debate on the Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018. As we are all well aware, on 25 May this year the people of Ireland voted overwhelmingly, clearly and emphatically to remove the eighth amendment from the Constitution which acknowledged the right to life of the unborn, with due regard to the equal right to life of the mother. As a result of this decision, the onus is now on the Oireachtas to legislate for abortion in this country.

As many in this House are aware, I strongly supported the retention of the eighth amendment and the right to life of every unborn child and I still do so. However, I stated clearly after the result of the referendum that I will not obstruct or oppose the passage of this legislation through the Dáil. I will engage constructively on all Stages. I was surprised that pre-legislative scrutiny was not an option for this Bill. As Chairman of the Oireachtas Committee on Business, Enterprise and Innovation, I know that this is a legislative process that is used frequently. What was the thinking behind the decision not to engage in pre-legislative scrutiny of this Bill?

During the many discussions prior to the referendum, the Minister for Health and the Taoiseach promised safe, legal and rare abortions and I will be holding them to account on this. Some of the concerns that I hope to have addressed on Committee Stage are also concerns that I had during the referendum campaign. In particular, I refer to section 10 on the risk to life or health, which provides that a termination of pregnancy may be carried out where two medical practitioners, having examined the pregnant woman, are of the reasonable opinion formed in good faith that the foetus has not reached viability. I want to tease out the definition of viability, accepted in Irish maternity hospitals as 23 to 24 weeks. This is deliberately vague and seems to allow for abortions late into the second and third trimester. Viability is the point at which a child can survive outside of the womb with or without medical assistance. This is not a fixed point in time and with continuing medical advances, children are surviving from an earlier and earlier age. If an unborn child is past the point at which medical technology can support that child outside the womb, there should be an absolute legal prohibition on an abortion at that point. The Bill contains no express cut-off point of viability in the case of abortions under the so-called emergency ground, where a doctor certifies that an abortion is immediately necessary to avert an immediate risk to the woman's life or of serious harm to her mental or physical health.

My next concern relates to unborn babies with disabilities. During the campaign the Minister for Health stated that disability, including Down's syndrome, would be excluded as grounds for an abortion in any legislation but there is absolutely nothing in this Bill ruling out abortion on such grounds. The Oireachtas Joint Committee on the Eight Amendment of the Constitution looked at the issue of disability and specifically excluded it as grounds for a termination. The committee differed from the Citizens' Assembly, as noted by the Minister for Health in the Seanad on 17 January 2018. Why are there no specifics relating to disabilities in the Bill? I have read the legislation several times and have not found the word disability anywhere.

Like other colleagues, I have been contacted by medical and health professionals from all over the country who have grave concerns about freedom of conscience provisions in the Bill. The right to freedom of conscience is a fundamental right protected by the Irish Constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights. One doctor told me that he trained for 11 years and entered his profession to protect life, not take it. The Bill proposes to force doctors to refer women for abortions against their conscience. This is deeply unjust.

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