David Cullinane (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I was quite taken by the contributions from all the female Senators, who spoke compassionately and eloquently about the issue of abortion. We could all hear the emotion in Senator Power's voice earlier when she read out the powerful e-mail she received from a constituent, who had found herself in a difficult place like many women do. The reason women are best able to express this issue is because they fully understand what women go through when they find themselves in these circumstances. This is why I was also taken aback by some of the commentary by people who describe themselves as pro-life. I agree with all the other speakers who have a similar position to me on this issue. We are all pro-life regardless of where we stand or sit on this issue.

The issue of suicide was raised by at least one Senator, if not more, and by many people outside the House. It is deeply insulting to women to suggest that they would use the issue of suicide simply to get an abortion. The creation of a perception that women would go shopping around general practitioners trying to get them to sign forms to have an abortion is absolutely wrong and I believe it is deeply insulting to those who are our mothers, sisters, wives, girlfriends, family members and so on. It is deeply insulting to the women of Ireland and elsewhere.

Mention was also made of the Supreme Court judgment, which some people have called into question. They are entitled to disagree with the court's findings but they should not spread misinformation about the Supreme Court ruling. These people peddle the lie and spread misinformation despite the fact that it is corrected ad nauseam . The Supreme Court did not hear medical evidence. These people know and we know that the Supreme Court is an appellant court and it does not hear medical evidence. The medical evidence was heard by the High Court. The job of the Supreme Court was to analyse that information and to ensure that it made a correct interpretation of the evidence before the High Court. Essentially, its purpose was to re-evaluate the evidence and information of the High Court. That is a fact but of course we have had misinformation from people who want to use this issue for their own reasons and that is wrong.

I struggle with the issue of abortion because I am not someone who believes. I believe the term ?abortion on demand? is ugly. I am not in favour of liberal abortion regimes and I do not believe that people should have an abortion for any reason at any time. However, I fully accept that there are circumstances in which a termination is necessary and I fully agree with the consistency of my party?s approach, that is, in instances where a woman's life is in danger, including those relating to mental health, but also in cases of rape and incest, a termination should be allowed and that the final choice should rest with the woman.

We all know of the tragic case in Galway and we can all sympathise with Ms Halappanavar's family. We know about the A, B, C and X cases. These are not simply figures in an alphabet. These are women who found themselves in very difficult circumstances and were compelled to bring the State to court. Sometimes their claims were upheld and sometimes they were not. However, a consistent feature in all these cases was that they showed up that we have failed as legislators. I believe we need to correct this position. We have a clear role as legislators to ensure that we protect the health of women. This is what the issue is about; it is not simply about abortion. One could argue that it is not about abortion at all but ensuring that the health of women is protected.

I refer to the issue of suicide. The Minister of State was in the Chamber for several of the debates. I took part in the debates on suicide as well. One thing we all agree on is the need to de-stigmatise the area of suicide. Where does this fit when people use the issue of pregnant women as they do to create a perception that they will use the issue of suicide to have an abortion? I find this offensive and I cannot under any circumstances accept the notion as put forward.

The Minister of State is aware that my party tabled a Private Members' Bill some weeks ago. She is aware that we supported Deputy Clare Daly's Bill when it was tabled in the Dáil and she knows that if the Government brings forward legislation in line with the X case, my party will fully support it. We want to Minister of State to do so as quickly as possible.

The other issues of rape and incest will not simply go away. We will come back to this. I fully accept that we can have legislation in line with the Constitution on this issue now but I hope we will consider these issues that we cannot deal with now in a legislative sense and perhaps sometime in future we could hold a referendum on those issues in order that we can ensure that we protect vulnerable women when they find themselves in these circumstances.