Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

This section and this group of amendments are the most important before us in our adjudication of this legislation. Our names are on amendments Nos. 5 to 9 in this grouping. At the core of this is the decriminalisation of abortion in Ireland in line with the ancillary recommendations of the Citizens' Assembly, the Oireachtas joint committee, the United Nations and the World Health Organization. Anybody who even glanced at the proceedings of the Joint Committee on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution would see that the issue of decriminalisation came up at every single session.

It is reflected in our report, which cited the case Amanda Mellet brought to the UN Human Rights Committee. It found for her and against Ireland. It found Ireland had subjected her to discrimination and inhuman or degrading treatment because of our laws against abortion in circumstances of fatal foetal impairment. It found her suffering was aggravated by the shame and stigma associated with criminalisation. We know the report of the Oireachtas joint committee stated the criminal provision also has the potential to create a chill factor for doctors and clinical risk by distorting clinical decision making. Moving it to the back means it is great it is not at the front but we are not decriminalising abortion.

At lunchtime today, I happened to bump into one of the leading people in the Well Woman Centre, which will be at the forefront of delivering the services. We have received a statement from the Irish Family Planning Association, which will also be at the forefront of delivering the service. These eminently respected and key arenas for women's health are warning us we must remove criminalisation from the Bill. They are not alone in this. The World Health Organization has long called for an end to criminalisation and defines decriminalisation to mean removing specific criminal sanctions against abortion from the law. By supporting our amendments we will be supporting the World Health Organization's position.

I want to draw attention to a statement made in September by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. It urged governments throughout the world to decriminalise abortion and enhance their progress towards ensuring the right of every woman or girl to make autonomous decisions about her pregnancy. The statement warned that:

Legal frameworks for abortion have typically been designed to control women's decision-making through the use of criminal law. Many legal frameworks generally prohibit abortion and make it legal only on specific grounds that do not capture the range of circumstances in which women and girls may need abortions. Moreover, strict time limits for abortion often cause women to be in situations where their abortions become illegal. These legal restrictions frequently converge with the practical barriers to effectively deny abortion to pregnant women and girls at the expense of their dignity and well-being.

These are very serious words.

We are at an important juncture in the development of Irish society in terms of women's reproductive health. If we pass this legislation but maintain a criminalisation sanction in it, albeit a slightly watered down one, we will fail any organisation that gave this issue serious consideration, which every one of them has. Even at this late stage, I am pleading on these issues.

The provision is unusually wide ranging. It has the potential to still have a chilling effect. It is broad enough to leave healthcare providers open to malicious reports and criminal investigation with regard to their decisions as to gestation stage or the nature of risk to health after 12 weeks. We do not need them operating in that climate. I know the Minister will speak about good faith and reasonable opinion but they are defences to being prosecuted. They might work or they might not but it does not preclude the initiation of criminal proceedings with all the consequences for healthcare providers this would involve. There is ample medical regulation and other legislation in place to cover such situations. Given that the eighth amendment was removed by popular vote there is no requirement to include this clause. As we pointed out on Committee Stage, the Irish Family Planning Association and others have pointed out new offences should only be included if there is a public interest in addressing a clearly identifiable potential harm to women that would otherwise fall outside the remit of medical regulation. I have not seen any that fall into this category.

Amendments Nos. 6 to 8, inclusive, would become relevant in the event of amendment No. 5 falling. They would send a signal that if we are maintaining some form of sanction we need a clear statement in defence of doctors who might be worried about the chill factor associated with the Government's offences provisions and, therefore, might be deterred from providing abortion care to their patients. It is also there to ensure others, such as friends and family members of pregnant women, who ask for assistance are not criminalised in the process of acquiring pills. Where they act in good faith and on explicit instruction from a pregnant woman they should not be subject to a criminal prosecution. This would protect against somebody being coerced.

I echo the point made that we need to move away from associating abortion with a 14 year jail term. It is being consistently mentioned as the term, which leads people to believe it is an automatic sentence. If we were to do nothing else we should do this. I know the Minister will support the first of the amendments but he must support the removal later of criminalisation or not move its insertion. Obviously, we will oppose its insertion. It is absolutely critical because of all of the empirical medical and legal evidence before us. Even at this 11th hour I plead that we deal with this once and for all in the proper clinical medical setting and not as a stand-alone issue open to any extra criminal sanctions, which is what we are still doing.

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