Peter Fitzpatrick (Louth, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I support this amendment which would allow us to show some dignity to the remains of the unborn child after a surgical abortion has been carried out, which is a violent and gruesome procedure. The amendment guarantees that unborn children who have been aborted will have their remains treated properly either by burial or cremation. It places no burden on the woman to have a role in this, as has been falsely alleged, unless she chooses to. The amendment would safeguard against those horrifying stories in other jurisdictions where the remains of unborn children have been treated as medical waste or, as in the case of one shocking practice which operated in the United States, were sold for profit for the purpose of medical experiments. We need to ensure there is no way this could ever happen in Ireland. Much has been said in the House about the treatment of human infants’ remains in the Tuam mother and baby home. Surely we never want to see this happen again. We need to pass this amendment to ensure that.

As a matter of international law and of human practice going back thousands of years, the remains of all human beings are entitled to be treated with dignity and respect. By rejecting this amendment, the Government is stating that unborn children who have been aborted are not entitled to this respect. This will be a truly shocking indictment of the House and shows total hypocrisy, particularly in the wake of the scandal of the treatment of the remains of babies in Tuam. This amendment simply guards against inhuman and barbaric practices which happened in Ireland decades ago and have happened in other jurisdictions in recent years. For this reason, I strongly support this amendment.

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