Paul Bradford (Fine Gael)

Prior to the intervention of the previous speaker, I wanted to comment briefly on the debate begun by Senators Bacik and Mullen on the abortion issue. Perhaps I am moving in the wrong social circles, but I have not yet received any complaints on the advertising. I appreciate that abortion is a sensitive subject, but that does not mean we can ignore the reality of what the subject is all about. At some stage, we will have a substantive debate on the matter here, perhaps in the autumn, and we cave the broader arguments until then. Language is important and one of the tragic lessons of history which we learned in the 1930s and 1940s in Europe is that people have debased language and changed words to remove reality from the public. We do not debate the subject of abortion, but what is called the termination of pregnancy. That kind of debasing of the language does not help. Anything which forces us to recognise the reality of abortion and concentrate on the alternatives is helpful rather than a hindrance. It may be uncomfortable, but that does not mean it is wrong.