Michael Harty (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

This is a difficult issue. I am not sure about the circumstances where Deputy Mattie McGrath and others spoke about a baby surviving a termination of pregnancy but there are four areas in this legislation where a pregnancy can be terminated.

One area is before 12 weeks, so that will not apply to this amendment. The second area is when there is an emergency and it quite possible that a woman's health would be at risk and one is on the cusp of the baby being viable. For instance, if it is at 30 weeks, the baby will be delivered as normal. There will not be a termination of pregnancy but there will be a normal delivery and at 30 weeks that baby will most likely survive quite healthily. If it is at 20 weeks, the baby is very unlikely to survive but it may be on the cusp of viability at 22, 23 or 24 weeks and there may be a possibility that it can survive. Medical ethics will of course kick in and it will be ethically required of the medical profession to do what it can to continue the life of that baby. The circumstance which is being described here is very unlikely to occur in this jurisdiction under this legislation.

The other area where a baby would be born alive is with a fatal foetal abnormality, which will have been accurately diagnosed before the delivery and some of those children will continue to live for some time, be it a few hours, a few days or maybe a few weeks. Of course, every effort will be made to help that baby to survive and for the family to interact with that baby.

What is being proposed in this amendment is not possible within this legislation but if it was to be the case that a child was delivered and it was alive, medical ethics would kick in and would give every assistance to that baby, provided there was a possibility that the baby would have a time to survive and to live. The amendment may be well intentioned but it will not arise as a practical situation in this legislation because if a baby is born alive and is viable, everything will be done to preserve the life of that child through medical ethics. I do not know if medical ethics can be introduced into this legislation but the possibility of a baby being left to die at the side of a bed without any intervention is completely unlikely in the medical system that we have today.

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