Results 5,541-5,560 of 49,836 for speaker:Stephen Donnelly

Select Committee on Health: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2018)

Stephen Donnelly: Termination of pregnancy services should be free and I will oppose the amendment. However, it is perfectly legitimate of any Member of the Oireachtas to query and debate which health services should be free. For those of us who believe that termination of pregnancy services should be free, it is incumbent upon us to make the case. Some of the criticism of the amendment is technically...

Select Committee on Health: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2018)

Stephen Donnelly: -----to buy pills and self-administer without medical supervision or safety. For those reasons, termination of early pregnancy under section 13 must be free because we are trying to provide this service to everyone. The next section that is not exempted relates to fatal foetal abnormalities. Perhaps this was a drafting error. I would find it unconscionable that any pregnant woman faced...

Select Committee on Health: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2018)

Stephen Donnelly: My personal view is in direct conflict with my view of what the people have voted for on this. Personally, I oppose strongly the section, which feels completely over the top. It has a chilling effect, as we know. Points have been made around no such penalty of 14 years ever having been suggested for men's reproductive health and, indeed, medical malpractice and so on is already covered in...

Select Committee on Health: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2018)

Stephen Donnelly: I agree with the idea of a report. The standard period is five years for most legislation. The question is whether this Bill is different and whether there is greater urgency to see how this goes. I certainly believe there is. This is highly sensitive legislation. There are very serious concerns raised by doctors, the institutes and all sorts of people. It is not about being more...

Select Committee on Health: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2018)

Stephen Donnelly: I wish to make a procedural point. The next two or three groupings are really important. They are going to speak to much of the subsequent sections, including sections 9 to 13, inclusive. My sense is that they are over-grouped. The Minister has shared his sub-groupings. I have gone through them all and they actually make perfect sense. For example, under the fourth group amendments Nos....

Select Committee on Health: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2018)

Stephen Donnelly: It is not in these groupings. We were provided with a second set of groupings. These were not the committee groupings. They have simply been shared with us. The idea is to go with that.

Select Committee on Health: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2018)

Stephen Donnelly: I have listened to the back and forth on this amendment. I tabled amendment No. 70, which could be grouped with this. The issue of fatal foetal abnormalities and this 28-day period arises twice - in the definition and in section 12. I have sought to do in that section what Deputy Bríd Smith is seeking to do in the definition section. I think the Minister has got this wrong. I would...

Select Committee on Health: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2018)

Stephen Donnelly: Let us break this down. We are talking about legal and medical advice. We need to look at section 12, "Condition likely to lead to death of foetus", subsection (1), which states: "A termination of pregnancy may be carried out in accordance with this section where 2 medical practitioners, having examined the pregnant woman, are of the reasonable opinion formed in good faith that there is...

Select Committee on Health: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2018)

Stephen Donnelly: It is also the case that the Minister cannot share that advice with the committee. The purpose of Committee Stage is for him to explain to us the legal implications of the legislation. Will he tell us, then, regarding the legalities of the Bill, and given that the 28-day provision can be put into the guidelines, the legal problem with taking that provision out of the legislation?

Select Committee on Health: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2018)

Stephen Donnelly: Even if it is in the medical guidelines?

Select Committee on Health: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2018)

Stephen Donnelly: Have they said that they need it in the legislation rather than in the guidelines?

Select Committee on Health: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2018)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank the Minister for that. The other wording which was proposed - I cannot remember who it came from - had legal input, as far as I remember and was that there was a fatal foetal condition "present". Was there an issue with that wording?

Select Committee on Health: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2018)

Stephen Donnelly: The "shortly thereafter" phrase seems to be what is problematic because it is fuzzy.

Select Committee on Health: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2018)

Stephen Donnelly: I move amendment No. 37:In page 9, to delete lines 6 to 8. Amendment No. 37 needs to be taken in conjunction with amendment No. 50. I will talk the Minister through the intention behind the amendment. It is to take the definition of "viability" out of the definitions section and moving it into the only section where it is actually used. The reason for that is because "viability" is...

Select Committee on Health: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2018)

Stephen Donnelly: Yes. I am seeking this change because I was approached by quite a number of people who are very concerned about disability and other reasons for which people might seek terminations. It hinges on viability and the fact that a termination is possible up to the point where there is a viable foetus and a potentially viable early birth. There are three issues involved. The first is a simple...

Select Committee on Health: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2018)

Stephen Donnelly: I also asked about the one medical practitioner versus the two.

Select Committee on Health: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2018)

Stephen Donnelly: Will the Minister repeat that?

Select Committee on Health: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2018)

Stephen Donnelly: The issue which the Minister and I have been discussing is whether "extraordinary life-sustaining measures" can be used when a doctor is determining whether a pregnancy is viable. The key issue is probably short term versus long term. My understanding of the Minister's response is that the phrase "without extraordinary life-sustaining measures" was added to avoid a situation where, in...

Select Committee on Health: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2018)

Stephen Donnelly: Extraordinary life-sustaining measures. I do not think that is anybody's intention but that is what the legislation says right now.

Select Committee on Health: Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2018)

Stephen Donnelly: Yes, extraordinary measures.