Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

Nine months ago the country voted en masseto repeal the eighth amendment and to allow abortion rights. It was a truly historic referendum. The central message was clear that people with a crisis pregnancy should be cared for in Ireland and should not be forced abroad and that people should be able to make these decisions freely without barrier or obstruction. In the last 24 hours we have heard that women may face intimidation from anti-choice zealots in hospitals, clinics and car parks. The Taoiseach needs to give the date for urgent safety-zone legislation.

We are also hearing of women struggling to get access and who are left outside of the law. I want to ask the Taoiseach about women with tragic foetal diagnoses, people who had such an impact during the referendum. There are worrying signs that the very women whose stories resonated throughout the country are still being forced abroad. A number of women have contacted my office and three of them have had to go to England for terminations for medical reasons. In the latest case, a woman - let us call her Mary - contacted me. She had a scan in Portiuncula Hospital and the obstetrician told her that there was a muchal translucency with fluid around the neck of 8 to 9 mm and possible Edwards syndrome. She was told there was only 15% chance of delivery and the baby might live an hour or so.

However, the doctor then said, for whatever reason, that nothing could be done, as she was over 12 weeks. Mary was handed the names of three hospitals in England. By the way, she also said a staff member had treated her like a leper after this point. She later rang the HSE and was directed to University Hospital Galway where, despite a GP telephoning and apparently making an arrangement for a scan, a doctor told her on arrival that there was no one there to see her and that she would not get to the second trimester. At that stage, she and her husband had had enough. They walked out and within hours had made an appointment to travel to England. Of course, it would have been at great expense, in having to have children looked after, making work arrangements etc. Mary said to me: "I would lose my head if I had to continue this pregnancy, but Ireland will do nothing for me."

All of the women who have contacted me have individual stories, but they have one thing in common - last May they voted never knowing that they were going to face this situation but thinking they would be cared for if they did. They have asked me to put some questions to the Taoiseach. Why can a pregnant person in another country sit down with a doctor, get all of the facts and then come to a decision with her family? In this country why is a distinction made between fatal and severe abnormalities that is not made in other countries? One of the women who is a nurse asked who made the decision on what conditions got onto the list of fatal foetal abnormalities-----

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