Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

The story of maternal healthcare in Ireland is the story of how we have treated women in this country. It is far from a happy story; it is a lot closer to a horror story. Irish maternal healthcare was a place where misogyny reigned, where women were defined solely in terms of their reproductive functions and where they were denied control of themselves, their bodies and their lives. In the early days of the Free State, as the Dáil limited women’s opportunity in public life, we had disgracefully high maternal and infant mortality rates. Maternity services were under-resourced and the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act 1935 made the use of contraception a criminal offence, an actual criminal offence.

A twisted version of Catholic morality and Irish misogyny created the mother and baby homes, a system of Church-run, State-funded institutions in every county which intentionally incarcerated, abused and dehumanised women and girls for being pregnant. It punished rape victims, women with disabilities and women from disadvantaged groups, while the rapists, predators and men of good character washed their hands. This system, administered in many cases by nuns, abused generations of girls and women, and led to the death of thousands of infants and young children. This included the Religious Sisters of Charity who ran Magdalen laundries and residential institutions for children. We are still dealing with the legacy of these abuses as the State rallies to limit survivors' rights, their access to the truth and proper redress.

In the late 1940s, Dr. Noel Browne’s mother and child scheme aimed to reduce high rates of child mortality by modernising healthcare and providing free service for mothers and children. This chance of real progress to save lives and help empower women was strongly opposed by the Catholic Church, the Irish Medical Association and many of Dr. Browne’s colleagues. Pre-empting liberalisation and secularity in Irish society, lay Catholic organisations pushed for the eighth amendment which introduced one of the most oppressive abortion regimes in western countries. For 35 years, it not only restricted bodily autonomy but it caused immeasurable damage and suffering. It was only thanks to the activism and dogged determination of women that it was repealed. Politicians delayed and obstructed, opposing even giving the Irish people a vote until the pressure was too much for them to hold back.

Despite the historic victory for women’s rights, we know women still have to travel long distances, especially in rural areas, for medical terminations and families are still forced to go to the UK for care when they need terminations for medical reasons. These barriers are even greater for young people, people with disabilities and women from minority groups. We are still living in the remnants of this history. It is not the past, it is the present. Much of our health and educational infrastructure is still controlled by the Roman Catholic Church which has limited people’s access to procedures and even information. This motion is a reminder that this struggle for women’s healthcare continues today. It may not be as acute, but many of the fundamental points remain the same. Do we want a system based on medical science and the informed decision-making of individuals or do we want one that prioritises harmful religious teachings?

Women’s healthcare is still overlooked. Take the Government’s failure to ensure the consistent easing of restrictions in maternity hospitals, Deputy Catherine Connolly’s motion highlighting the need for an implementation plan for the National Maternity Strategy 2016-2026, or the fact that the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, INMO, has consistently highlighted that our midwife-to-birth ratio is much higher than it should be.

Women’s healthcare is still restricted. In religiously-controlled settings, the morning-after pill, IVF, abortion, vasectomies, sterilisation and trans-healthcare are all obstructed. Perfectly standard, normal and necessary healthcare is banned because of religious teachings. These are not practices of the 1930s or the restrictions of extremist regimes, it is the reality in Ireland today. That is unbelievable.

Women’s healthcare needs to be legally guaranteed. Without absolute certainty, we allow for the hard-won rights of individuals to be chipped away or denied. We need the national maternity hospital to be fully owned and run by the State. The situation is complex but the situation has been made complex. The Sisters of Charity wanted full ownership of public hospitals. After public pressure, they have set up a separate company with self-appointed directors who will be bound by a religious ethos. Legally, this separates the nuns from control of the site but in a practical sense, their control will remain and dominate.

The just and decent thing would be for the Religious Sisters of Charity to give the land to the women of Ireland in reparations. However, if the order will not do the moral thing, then the Government must itself ensure public ownership and State governance. For a horrifyingly long time, this country was run on shame and it was a powerful force. Shame was weaponised against women and girls for the so-called crime of getting pregnant and that shame still lingers. Shame and religious control have no place in the future of maternal healthcare in this country. Our new national maternity hospital must be wholly secular: Irish women have fought too hard and too long for anything less.

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