Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

Is it becoming that ridiculous and inhumane? We need a reality check and to think about what we are saying.

My final comments will be on waiting lists. Waiting lists in the creaking and crumbling health service are being used as an excuse not to provide women with what is rightfully theirs and what they deserve. It is what is rightfully theirs according to the outcome of the referendum. I will make a plea to the Minister about the plight of doctors. There are some areas, particularly in rural Ireland and some working class areas in the cities of Dublin and Cork, where the average number of public patients per doctor is more than 1,200. It is too many for a decent health service to function. If we add the women and girls who may try to access abortion services, we are asking a lot of doctors. As a result of the FEMPI legislation, during the years of austerity their payments were cut by up to 25%, although there are disputes about how much. This needs to be taken into consideration. Austerity cuts have hit GP services and made some GPs bitter about the way they have been treated. This may add to the numbers who say they will not buy into the scheme because they have too many patients. They are stuck in poor working class areas of Dublin or rural areas of County Laois or County Offaly and nobody notices what they have to go through. It illustrates a danger in the 72-hour waiting clause and a return visit being absolutely necessary in law. In addition to the strain on GP services, we are adding in the requirement to make a second visit within three days. It needs to be extended to include midwives and nurses being able to administer the abortion pill, which is a medical abortion rather than a surgical abortion.

There are lots of flaws in the Bill. If there are flaws in it, it is because it is not universal enough to deliver the health service women need. I recognise the existence of conscientious objection in medicine, but, as the women who tweeted me said, conscientious objection does not extend to the objectors being able to have their way over the consciences of the vast majority. The vast majority have said in no uncertain terms what their consciences tells them. They tell them whether they would choose to access abortion services. They tell them not to stand in the way of every woman and girl being able to make that decision for herself. Therefore, the services we deliver should not stand in her way.

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