Terry Leyden (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I served in that Department as well. The title "Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill 2013" is inaccurate; it should be titled the abortion Bill 2013. Section 9(1) provides:

It shall be lawful to carry out a medical procedure in respect of a pregnant woman in accordance with this section in the course of which, or as a result of which, an unborn human life is ended where-- [...](i) there is a real and substantial risk of loss of the woman's life by way of suicide

This is the basis of the Bill being brought through the House by the Minister for Health, Deputy James Reilly, and the Minister of State, Deputy Alex White, to legalise abortion without regard to the viability of the unborn child. In his speech yesterday, the Minister stated:

Section 9 deals with a risk to the life of the pregnant woman from suicide. There are recognised clinical challenges in accurately assessing suicidal ideation, for example, the absence of objective biological markers. Therefore, this assessment requires that more safeguards are put in place.

In evidence given to Joint Committee on Health and Children, Dr. Sam Coulter Smith, master of the Rotunda Hospital, stated that termination is not a treatment for suicidal ideation and that the Bill is not evidence-based. Dr. John Sheehan, consultant psychiatrist at the Mater Hospital and UCD, stated "There is no evidence base to indicate that abortion prevents suicide." That is why I am voting "No" to this blatant abortion Bill. No amendment will change my vote unless section 9 is removed.

Section 17, dealing with conscientious objection, makes no provision for other hospital staff, such as porters and clerical support staff. I hope the Bill does not pass but if it does they will be forced to co-operate in the abortion of a viable child. No provision in the Bill exempts them on the basis of conscientious objection. It exempts doctors and nurses and other staff but I do not see anything in the Bill that exempts all staff associated with that abortion. That must be included in the Bill because otherwise people will lose their jobs when they refuse to co-operate. It may be a clerical assistant or a porter bringing the young woman to the operating theatre who could conscientiously refuse to co-operate and assist in this particular abortion. There is no provision for Fine Gael, the Labour Party and Sinn Féin Deputies and Senators to have conscientious objection without expulsion. Fianna Fáil is the only party allowing Oireachtas Members to vote for or against the abortion Bill. I welcome this progressive decision. I have spent fifteen and a half years in the Dáil, 11 years in the Seanad and I was a Minister of State for six and a half years. I have never voted against the Fianna Fáil Whip. It is a great relief to all of us to be allowed to vote as our conscience dictates.

In 2012, 185,122 abortions were carried out in England and Wales. More babies have been aborted than people died in the Second World War. That is the stark reality. I commend the heroic conscientious objection by Deputy Peter Mathews, Deputy Lucinda Creighton, the former Minister of State, and Deputies Billy Timmins, Terence Flanagan and Brian Walsh. Those men and that woman showed how they felt. They had the courage of their convictions and I welcome Deputy Peter Mathews to the Public Gallery. They showed their mettle. The way the Minister of State, Deputy Lucinda Creighton, was treated by the Taoiseach and the Government was disgraceful. Never in the history of the State has a Minister of State been fired over the telephone without a proper Cabinet meeting being called to decide on her position.