Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this legislation. I am glad we are debating it before the summer recess because we have waited long enough for the Bill. We first started discussing safe access zones in the wake of the eighth amendment referendum in 2018, some five years ago. In the interim, while we have seen some women finally receiving access to necessary and essential healthcare, we have also seen, regrettably, some women being subjected to what I believe to be unforgivable intimidation, obstruction and threatening behaviour during a traumatic period in their lives when they are seeking a termination.

I attended the meeting of the Joint Committee on Health in May when it was discussing the report on the review of the Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act 2018. Having been present, it was clear from the report and the testimony of the expert witnesses that several elements of our abortion services need to be improved. I will focus on safe access zones because that is what this Bill is concerned with. At that committee meeting, we heard shocking testimony about protests outside GP surgeries in particular. Witnesses used the phrase "coercively controlling somebody's reproductive rights". They used this phrase when it came to intimidating behaviour in or outside a medical practitioner's office. It is appalling that this is still happening now despite how our nation voted and to think there is a campaign of intimidation and almost emotional blackmail going on in some places aimed at women in crisis situations and seeking healthcare. It is often as well aimed at service providers themselves, including GPs, nurses and receptionists. All this must end and end now.

I believe safe access zones prohibiting this intimidating behaviour around facilities carrying out terminations would go a long way towards protecting women and service providers. I commend Together for Safety and all its campaigning for everything it has done to keep safe access zones on the political agenda and for continuing to shine a spotlight on women's experiences. In the run-up to the referendum on the eighth amendment, much of the discussion centred on trusting women. As we look at how we can improve the services currently available, I think this discussion still boils down to trusting women. We must trust women to make the decision that is best for them and trust the women who have made that decision, as difficult a decision as it may be to terminate a pregnancy, have thought those decisions through. When people decide to intimidate through protest to try to change a person's mind, they are saying loud and clear they do not trust women to make the right decision.

It is not just protests that are intimidating. We have also seen billboards and posters in prominent positions outside maternity hospitals and healthcare settings calling on women to rethink abortion. They are outside hospitals where women are inside and going through traumatic experiences of everything from miscarriage and pregnancy loss to hearing news of fatal foetal abnormalities. These billboards and posters are in places where women are going in looking for help, assistance and access to healthcare. As they enter and leave those premises, these women are confronted with, and there is no doubt about this, intimidation and, quite frankly, veiled hatred in terms of protest, billboards and posters. This is happening at a time when these women are undoubtedly already suffering physically and, most likely, emotionally too. This is a blatant attempt to cause upset and trauma and to heap more emotional turmoil on women in difficult situations. This is why I want intimidating billboards and posters and similar material to be cracked down on within these safe access zones and to be treated just as seriously as physical protests.

I am a big believer in the right to protest. Working here, we witness protests and protesters when we come out every day. I am proud we live in a country where people can express their views so freely. This is everybody's right. With every right, though, there is a balance of responsibility. For me, this line is firmly drawn when protests cease to be peaceful and become unreasonable, intimidatory or threatening. This is the definition of protests outside healthcare settings. Protests seeking to stop women from accessing necessary healthcare are unreasonable at best and threatening and intimidating at worst. I welcome that this legislation will so better protect women in this situation. The reality is these protests can continue. This legislation will not apply outside the 100 m safe access zone. That is okay because we want people to be allowed to protest. The safe access zones will, however, protect women seeking abortions from coming face-to-face with those seeking to undermine and degrade them. I just wish it had not taken us five years to get to this stage. Now we are here, I hope we can enact this legislation as soon as possible to protect women and, ultimately, to trust them to make the decision that is right for them, free from outside influence and intimidation.

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