Jim Walsh (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 4:

In page 6, line 8, after “treatment” to insert the following:“but excludes any procedure undertaken or drug administered with the direct intention of killing the unborn”.

If the Title means what it says - the Minister of State, Deputy White, assured us this morning that the Title conveys that the Bill is about the protection of women who are pregnant and the protection of the unborn - then obviously he should have no difficulty accepting the amendment for the clarity it brings to the Title. The amendment will mean that the definition of "medical procedure" in the interpretation section will now read as follows: " "medical procedure" includes the prescribing, by a medical practitioner, of any drug or medical treatment, but excludes any procedure undertaken or drug administered with the direct intention of killing the unborn.”

Our current ethos and law in this country have been about protecting the lives of women and do not allow the intentional killing of the unborn. If that Bill reflects that ethos, as the Minister of State said earlier, then he will have no difficulty in acknowledging and accepting the amendment. For that reason, in the expectation that that is the case and that what he told us this morning was true, I am not going to prolong the discussion on this amendment, and I am happy to leave it to the Minister of State to confirm that he will accept it.