Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

-----women and their clinicians into circumstances in which further shame and guilt are heaped on them. That is my reading of it based on my examination of how this would play out in surgeries across the country.

It should be borne in mind that the amendment reads "Except in a case of an immediate risk to the life, or of serious harm to the health, of the pregnant woman". The amendment concerns people who have been pregnant for less than 12 weeks. In the committee we also spoke about the fact that many women will have a termination early in the pregnancy for many reasons. I do not judge them, but there is a certain element in this amendment of judging women and casting aspersions on their decisions. Whatever the reasons they arrive at those decisions, they arrive at them.

We were very clear in the committee that this would be done in conjunction and in discussions with their GPs. We were very concerned that women should be able to go to their GPs, surgeries and local doctors and have these discussions. There are ethical obligations on GPs in the medical guidelines such that they must outline and discuss with a patient all the issues surrounding any treatment. That is already enshrined in basic medical ethics and has been a long-established practice.

I am only offering my opinion but, having listened to the evidence at the committee and perused a lot of evidence outside the committee, most women, after having a termination, still believe it was the right decision for them at the time. Some women will regret having a termination. Equally, some women will regret for many reasons having got pregnant in the first place but they feel they must have a termination for whatever reason. This concerns pregnancies of up to 12 weeks' gestation only, and the idea that one must talk about the physiological and anatomical characteristics and size of the foetus etc. is, in my view, again an effort to shame women and hurt them more in advance of a decision they do not arrive at lightly.

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