Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

I wish to speak in support of the Health (Termination of Pregnancy Services) (Safe Access Zones) Bill 2023. The Bill needs to be seen in the context that there is related legislation. I refer to the Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) (Amendment) Bill 2023, the Second Stage of which was taken on 31 May. The latter Bill would allow access for people who struggle to get access at the moment. Safe access and access go together. The Bill before the House should not be seen as a stand-alone measure. I will be backing it, but the other legislation to which I refer must go through quickly as well.

Since January 2019, we have seen protests organised outside GP clinics and hospitals where abortions services are provided and elsewhere. We have seen silent gatherings and people praying. We have seen props that include white crosses. We have seen placards with very graphic images on them. We have seen the distribution of anti-abortion leaflets. We have seen people entering surgeries to make complaints. We have seen - and this is not by any means uncommon - loud, abusive demonstrations targeting professionals who are providing a health service and women with crisis pregnancies. This is not by any means uncommon. The following was stated by a respondent to the abortion rights campaign publication Too Many Barriers: Experiences of Abortion in Ireland after Repeal:

It’s hard enough for people seeking abortions to make the decision and go through with it with the stigma that already exists. To subject these people to the vile verbal abuse and intimidation those who protest spew at them is untenable.

Those are important words. In July 2022, Dr. Camilla Fitzsimons from Maynooth University published research material that draws on international and domestic experience. In it, she referred to protests as being intimidatory, upsetting and even a form of gender-based harassment. Gender-based harassment is an important part of this. Deputy Bríd Smith made an important point. The same far-right forces have been involved in many of these protests. They are pointing the finger at asylum seekers and refugees. They are engaging in harassment and intimidation and targeting people in the LGBTQ+ community, those working in public libraries and other groups in our society. They are at the core of many of these protests.

The legislation before the House has been slow in coming forward. These protests began in the first quarter of 2019. I do not mean anti-abortion protests. We have known about those for years. Targeted protests outside GP clinics and hospitals are a new phenomenon. It was not a secret that they were taking place. The Minister, Deputy Simon Harris, said on the public record at the time that we needed to move quickly with the legislation in order to be able to deal with this issue. We are more than four years on from that. It is welcome that we are debating this issue now but the introduction of the legislation has been far too slow.

On the question of whether this legislation impacts on the right to protest, I want to be very clear. The Bill is very specific and proportionate. It refers to an area of 100 m around a service provider's location. It also refers to people who are entering and exiting the building not being harassed, intimidated or put under pressure.

It does not have an impact on the right to protest, even for those who wish to protest against abortion, or some of the other issues I referred to earlier, other than within 100 m of the place in question to protect women. It does not, therefore, have an impact, in any real sense, on the right to protest more generally. This is a point that needs to be made clear.

I return to the issue of the sister legislation to this Bill which I mentioned earlier. The Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) (Amendment) Bill 2023 was passed on Second Stage here on 31 May 2023. What does it provide for? It would decriminalise abortion. It would end the patronising three-day wait. It would allow for abortion after the 12-week cut-off currently there. It would provide a workable definition of "fatal foetal abnormality". It is also linked to a clear call and demand for services to be provided by the HSE throughout the State, rather than the extremely limited and patchy services now present in some parts. We should pass this legislation before us and pass it quickly. We should also pass the other legislation I have referred to and pass it quickly as well.

I congratulate all those who have campaigned for this legislation to be introduced, including the Together for Safety campaigners and all those women's rights activists around the country who have taken up this issue and campaigned so hard on it. Unfortunately, they have had to campaign over several years rather than a shorter timespan, but better late than never in this regard.

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