Fiach MacConghail (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire go dtí an Teach.

As the first member of the Independent group of Taoiseach’s nominees to speak on the Bill, each has his or her own individual perspective on it. We are Independents in the best sense - independent of the Government and each other in the position we adopt in the course of our office work.

We have diverse views on a lot of issues including this Bill and this afternoon I speak only on my own behalf and according to my beliefs and point of view. I look forward to hearing the deliberations of my colleagues as the Second Stage debate ensues.

The history and the context of this issue has been told, and retold again today in this House, so I will not repeat it. However, I commend the Minister in being as honest and as forthright as he possibly can in presenting this Bill. This Bill is about legislating for the judgment in the X case, which was delivered to us over 20 years ago. The Minister is not going to please everyone, including me, but with all the talk of political reform, a service was done to the citizens of Ireland by not guillotining the debate on this legislation. It is important that all of us as citizens hear and listen to all sides, from experts to politicians, on this most sensitive of issues.

In this instance I also commend Deputy Jerry Buttimer who as Chairman of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Health and Children held two sets of public hearings to discuss the report of the expert group in January, and later the draft heads of the Bill. This is what should happen to all legislation and I hope the Government has begun to trust the art of politics and not the blunt edge of the guillotine when it comes to parliamentary democracy and law-making. It certainly assisted me in my deliberations. I spoke in this Chamber last December in response to the report of the expert group on the judgment in the A, B and C case. It offered the Government clear choices arising out of the need to legislate for the X case. The lack of action for over 20 years by successive Governments and the Oireachtas established a legal vacuum. No matter what side of the debate we may be on, I am sure that, as law-makers, we can all agree that inaction is bad governance which, in turn, leads to ambiguity and lack of clarity for Irish women.

The main purpose of the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill is to restate the general prohibition on abortion in Ireland. As far as I can see it does not confer any new substantive rights to a termination of pregnancy. Abortion in certain circumstances was made legal, in my opinion, 21 years ago by the Supreme Court and with the embarrassing legal prod of the European Court of Human Rights, the Oireachtas has had to act accordingly. This Bill clarifies what medical procedures are permissible and under what circumstances. If anything, between the number of medical consultants and the certification process, it has made the availability of limited abortion in Ireland even more restrictive, one could argue. The Bill also repeals sections 58 and 59 of the Offences against the Person Action 1861 which removed the legal ambiguity and a threat of imprisonment to both the pregnant woman and her doctor. This repeal should remove somewhat what the European Court described as the chilling effect for both women and doctors.

I do believe that the Bill is narrow in its scope and that the Minister has lost an opportunity to provide leadership on behalf of women in Irish society. True, it does as the Minister said, namely, provide for existing rights. This Bill for the first time gives pregnant women in a medical emergency legal clarity and certainty about their human rights. It is the first time that women whose pregnancies endanger their lives have options, albeit limited, enshrined by law. The Minister has done exactly, and no more than, what the expert group recommended. As Frank Callanan described it during the public hearings "the Bill is a vessel negotiating a narrow strait".

In reflecting on the contents of the Bill and the debate on all sides of the argument, I must approach this issue about and for women with my own conscience, my own sense of justice and with respect to all concerned. Pregnant women must be trusted, and as a man, father, partner, Irish citizen and Senator I believe in women's right to bodily integrity. The purpose of the Seanad in theory - and I hope it is exemplified today in practice - is to have a calm, measured and reasoned debate on a broad range of issues, including this difficult debate about abortion. As I have witnessed in the past two years, all of us in the House have shown an extraordinary and diverse range of expertise and engagement and I trust that the quality of our debate today will be no different.

It is our duty, as legislators, to give effect to the will of the people who have spoken on the issue in three separate referenda, two of which expressly related to the question of suicide. This Bill does allow the legal termination of pregnancy if there is a threat to a woman's life as opposed to her health, and suicide is one of those threats. I believe in equality and therefore this defines me as a feminist. To me, and in this legislative context, that means that men and women should have equal access to the highest attainable standard of health care and to justice. This Bill could enshrine an inequality in Irish law. By failing to legislate for abortion in the face of a substantial threat to the health of a woman and in cases of pregnancy resulting from rape and incest, women in Ireland could remain second-class citizens. Rape and incest are crimes against women. Should a woman become pregnant because of a crime committed against her by a man, I would support giving her a choice, with appropriate and regulated medical advice, to terminate that pregnancy. My conscience dictates that I do not have the right to intervene as a man or a legislator to prevent this choice. I welcome the repealing of the relevant sections of the Offences against the Person Act 1861 but it has not completely removed the so-called "chilling effect" from the Statute Book. There will be a new offence of a fine or imprisonment of up to 14 years or both for any person who has an illegal abortion in Ireland or her doctor. I strongly believe that this chilling factor will ensure that we continue to export our problems abroad and that, if women can afford it, they will travel to the UK to terminate pregnancies rather than risk extreme punishment. A woman who has become pregnant because of an illegal act such as rape or incest will suffer greater punishment than the perpetrators of these heinous acts. Men will get away with lesser sentences, potentially. Legal clarity was supposed to help remove the chill factor not reinforce it, as the threat of 14 years in prison will certainly do.

I heard the Minister's response and I understand the issue of discretion but we as law-makers could clarify the discretion in the Bill before us. My colleague, Senator Marie-Louise O'Donnell, spoke eloquently in the Seanad last December about the D Case, a case that was not covered by the report of the expert group. Why not? The State argued in the European Court of Human rights on the right to terminate a non-viable pregnancy. The Minister knows of these cases and the tragic, barbaric, inhumane experience of women who had to travel abroad to seek compassion, understanding and a regrettable termination because of fatal foetal abnormalities. The Government could have also legislated for the D case. It could have shown leadership here. We now know of the sad and distressing story of Deirdre Conroy's pregnancy, the D case. She published a remarkable article in The Irish Timeson 31 May describing her experience of having to conceal the fact that she had a termination and four years later being told by the Irish State that she should have gone to court to seek permission for treatment. This has had a chilling effect on her trust in legislators. The effect of the stigma in this country attached to any form of termination for any reason cannot be underestimated. Imagine how much worse it is to endure that stigma when your wanted baby has fatal chromosomal defects. This Bill should provide for fatal foetal abnormalities.

I have been struck by the accounts of the tragedy of families whose foetus had a fatal abnormality and how these couples had to endure the torture of either being faced with bringing that pregnancy to full term, with all the questions being asked of them such as "When are you due?" and "How are you getting on?", or travelling to England like outcasts, if they can afford it. I know that the Minister was moved by this when he met some of these people. He could have looked at a definition of "unborn", particularly in light of the D case, and his lawyers, on behalf of the Irish State, argued for this. If, factually, it had been established that the foetus had no realistic prospect of being born alive, then an argument could have been made to the effect that this foetus was not an "unborn" for the purposes of article 40.3.3° and not compatible with life. We can discuss this in greater detail on Committee Stage when Senator O'Donnell and I hope to table amendments on fatal foetal abnormalities.

I bring this up again because yesterday the Minister's colleague, the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Deputy Rabbitte, all but confirmed that the Labour Party will not press for any further extension to abortion laws such as providing for fatal foetal abnormality or cases of rape or incest during the lifetime of this coalition. There are approximately 1,500 such cases in Ireland each year and it is estimated that in 80% of such cases, a termination is carried out abroad. The Minister could have provided compassion and leadership through legislation. A massive 83% of people in a recent IPSOS MRBI The Irish Timespoll believed that the scope of the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill should cover fatal foetal abnormality, while 81% felt similarly about cases of rape and incest.

While I welcome the fact that this Government and this Oireachtas is finally about to legislate for the X case, it feels like the minimum and an opportunity has been missed to provide leadership and to catch up with what Irish citizens have already accepted. My concern with the restrictions in this Bill is whether it will in any way reduce the number of women who travel to England to have terminations, when we should be supporting choice and support for pregnant women of all backgrounds and faiths here in Ireland.