Jim Walsh (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Amendment No. 7 is a very short amendment which proposes, in page 7, line 7, after "life," to insert "for the purposes of this Act." As somebody who believes as a principle that human life is inviolate from conception to natural death, I want to clarify that the definition in this Bill only applies to this Bill and does not have any wider connotations.

This part would then read "“unborn”, in relation to a human life, is a reference to such a life, for the purposes of this Act, during the period of time commencing after implantation..." If one likes, it is making the distinction between conception and implantation, and not interfering with the Bill. For clarity, I would not like this definition to influence other areas that might come up in the future.