Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Last May the people of Ireland voted in overwhelming numbers to make abortion legal in Ireland in certain circumstances. I believe abortion is very much a private and personal matter. I do not believe any woman decides or chooses to end her pregnancy lightly. No woman seeking this service and no doctor, midwife, nurse or anyone else involved in providing it should be subject to intimidation in any way in the course of going about that work or seeking to avail of what is now a legal health service in Ireland. As Deputies will be aware, the legislation to enact and realise the decision made by the people was passed by the Houses. There are now 274 GPs nationally who have signed up to provide terminations in early pregnancy, while there about ten maternity hospital units which are providing the service. When one considers that roughly between ten and 14 women end their pregnancies in Ireland every day, 274 GPs are there to help them and ten maternity units provide the service. The service will continue to be developed in the months and years ahead.

To answer the Deputy's question about the difference between fatal and severe abnormalities, that was a decision that was discussed in the Oireachtas. As an Oireachtas - the Deputy participated in all of those debates, which is why she should know the answer to her own question - we decided that disability would not be grounds for the termination of a pregnancy but that fatal abnormalities would be. A severe abnormality is very often a disability. That is a decision we made as a House - that we would make that distinction and that disability would not be grounds for a termination after 12 weeks. I do not really want to comment on any individual case. I know that the diagnosis of a fatal foetal abnormality must be a very difficult one for anybody - the mum, the dad and the family - when in a much wanted pregnancy one finds out something has gone wrong. Without knowing the facts of any individual case, it would be inappropriate for me to comment. I am aware that the Deputy raised an individual case here in the past, the facts of which turned out to be different from those that she-----

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