Lisa Chambers (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will oppose this amendment. We have come a long way to this stage. When it started, I was not sure that we would get here but after 35 years of debate, the Citizens' Assembly, the Oireachtas committee, the referendum and people's vote, the Select Committee on Health and contributions in this Chamber, it is fair to say that we are all fairly well-informed and the public is as informed as we are. I think there is a sinister motive behind the suggestion that by not funding abortions, we will somehow save lives. That suggests to me that by not funding abortions, we will deprive women of lower means of access to services, forcing them to remain pregnant against their will, regardless of the situation. That is control of women by financial means, which is the wrong approach. Regardless of Deputy Nolan's personal views, the suggestion that the Deputy would control a woman's access to these services because she cannot afford to pay for them, because the Deputy believes it is right or wants to achieve a restriction on abortion and will use money to do so, is wrong on many levels. I think Deputy Nolan is exploiting impoverished and vulnerable women. Not every woman has financial independence. She may not have a medical card but that does not mean she has access to the funds she needs, for whatever reason. We do not know specific domestic situations but we know people are in those circumstances.

For a Deputy who has advocated that there should not be inequality, that there has been a two-tier access to health services and inequality in many areas of society, to advocate that she would discriminate against women on the basis of a socioeconomic background and how much money they have is wrong. It is a perverse way of imposing a personal view on other women. I respect that Deputy Nolan's views are sincerely held personal views, trying to impose them on other women by using financial means is wrong.

Think about the inequity in that and the impact of such an amendment. What about a young girl who may not be working and does not have money? We do not know why she is in those situations. What about a young girl who may have been impregnated due to incest? Where is she supposed to get the money to pay for the service? What about a woman who may be in a very difficult domestic situation where her partner is the problem and she does not have financial independence? We do not charge for maternity services. They are health services. Why would this be different? It is part of maternity services. If they cannot access a termination due to cost, does Deputy Nolan think that woman, having really thought about this and being in a situation where she needs to access those services will, because we erect a financial barrier, sit back and get on with it? Is she accessing the service because it is a little easier? That does a disservice to women and is quite insulting to the process she has gone through to get to the point of making that decision.

Deputy Nolan clearly fundamentally disagrees with abortion in pretty much all circumstances but the fact is that the people of this country voted to provide services. The Deputy says they did not vote to pay for abortion services. I would counter that by saying that citizens did not vote to discriminate between women who are poor and women who are wealthy, for inequality and to erect barriers to the most impoverished and vulnerable women in society. Citizens did not vote for the intention of this amendment. Trying to restrict a woman's choice by financial means is imposing one's personal view through a backdoor and is trying to undermine the very real, sincere and well-informed vote that took place last May. Citizens knew what they were voting for and that women needed services. They are well aware that even now, women are still travelling every week and accessing services in another jurisdiction.

While I appreciate that a number of Deputies who are in a minority are unhappy with the result of the referendum, it happened and that vote stands. It is as valid as any other referendum that has taken place. The legislation was put before the people and they knew what was intended to go through this House. To come into this Chamber and seek to materially and substantially amend the legislation because one is not happy with it, and to implement this method of control and restrict access for women without the financial means to access services, is anti-women, anti-choice and seeks to exploit the real inequalities in our society. Many women would not be able to afford these services if they were charged for. That is a fact. It seems to be suggesting that if the Members supporting this can somehow restrict women or force them to remain pregnant, they will get what they want and that it does not matter about the women affected, the vote, the people's will or what is right for the women, since they will get what they want no matter what it takes. It does not matter if they have to use unequal means to get there, money as a way of restricting women or if they have to seek to exploit their very difficult circumstances, whether they are very young, unemployed or in a very difficult domestic situation. If they have to exploit that, that is what they will do. That is what this amendment says to me. It is important that we look at the impact of such an amendment. I appreciate the Deputy's personal views but to seek to exploit the financial inequalities in this country to force her own views and restrict access goes against the spirit of the people's vote last May.

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