Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

The phrase "cultural people" was used last night; it did not even make sense. The Deputy was trying to say was there are people who come from cultures where abortion for sex selection is done. I utterly object to that for a number of reasons. First, I represent a constituency where one in four people was born outside Ireland, which includes people from India and Pakistan. Second, it is just not true, and I did some research following last night's comments. If we voted "Yes" to this amendment, ethnic profiling of pregnant women would be introduced. If a woman from one of these cultures enters a GP's surgery, she will be asked if she is going to have an abortion because her child might be brown or black. Can we imagine that interference in the consultation with the woman? I have researched this and this is what happens.

The other issue is sex selection. I read studies of an imbalance in the ratio between men and women in societies. The fact that sons are favoured in cultures is wrong and shameful, but it stems from the inferior position of girls and women in our world, whom the proposers of these amendments never show any interest in once the child is born. Some of that imbalance can occur after girls are born. When families are poor, girls can get less food, education and so on. There can also be infanticide if the proposers would prefer that prospect. Sex selection for abortion is horrendous, but the Deputies need to cop on. We have a system where women are utterly inferior, taking the planet as a whole. The proposers again care nothing about that.

Mention was made of Pakistan. I looked up a study that was only done in 2016 in which the author stated: "We do not find consistent and convincing evidence that sex ratios at birth (which indicate sex-selective abortion) are increasing." That is important because people who are now Irish citizens could find themselves being affected by this amendment being accepted. There is enough racism in society without people trotting this out in the national Parliament. It is difficult enough for people to integrate into society without the stereotype being thrown out that they do not like girls. The Deputies should cop themselves on. That should be kept out of the debate and we should move on and deal with the main issues.

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