Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The reason I am removing this section is that a number of Deputies asked me to remove it at the outset. I am happy to do that. After the people voted to remove the eighth amendment, I told the House that I felt a responsibility to stick to what we said we would do in the general scheme. These offences were included in that scheme. The Bill provides that it shall be an offence for a person, by any means whatsoever, to intentionally end the life of a foetus other than in accordance with the provisions of the Bill. Officials from my Department and the Office of the Attorney General considered these issues in a number of ways. Deputies have submitted amendments which propose to delete the offence entirely so that the termination of pregnancy is decriminalised. I cannot accept them. In many countries, this matter is covered by law in penal or criminal codes so Ireland is not unusual in providing for offences in law and for penalties to be applied when the law is broken.

A number of Deputies have proposed deleting the subsection which makes it an offence for a person to aid, abet, counsel or procure a pregnant woman to intentionally end or attempt to end the life of that pregnant woman's foetus other than in accordance with the provisions in the Bill. However, criminalising a person who does this is necessary from a policy perspective. The health and well-being of pregnant women are at the heart of this policy. Helping a pregnant woman to end her pregnancy outside of the provisions of the Bill is not in her best interests and may on occasion put her health or her life at risk. One of the primary purposes of this legislation, and the amendment to the Constitution that preceded it, is to eliminate the health risk to women from illegal abortion. The Bill also provides that women can access, free of charge, safe medical procedures carried out by registered medical practitioners. That is an important point.

The provisions in the Bill protect people from forced abortions or an attempt to intimidate women, for example, in a situation of domestic or sexual abuse. A dominant personality trying to forcibly terminate a woman's pregnancy might induce a woman to terminate the pregnancy herself instead of attending a medical practitioner. I accept there is a difference of views on this, but we proposed these offences in the general scheme of the Bill which the people saw in advance of the referendum. It is important that termination of pregnancy remains illegal outside the circumstances in which it is legal. I have taken significant advice from the Attorney General on this matter and I am not in a position to accept the proposed amendments.

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