James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senators for their contributions. The Bill is what it says it is - the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill, for both mother and unborn child. I can only restate what I have said, namely, the Bill cannot be prescriptive of medical practice. Some have pointed out that we are telling doctors what to do, but we are not. We are clarifying the legal situation for them concerning the service they are obliged to provide and what is legally permissible. We are not telling them how to do that service or how to practise and I certainly do not believe we should. Medical practice changes and there are now so many different facets of medicine, not only in Ireland but generally. Advances are made and new techniques are brought in all the time.

I cannot accept these amendments because I am not prepared to be prescriptive. I return to what others mentioned during the course of the debate. We have to trust our doctors and nurses, who give of their best on a daily basis to keep us and our fellow citizens safe. They practise with care and compassion. For me to prescribe precisely how they should do that would, first, be wrong, and, second, be a very dangerous place to go.