Fidelma Healy Eames (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Minister is very welcome. I wish to speak on amendment No. 38, which seeks to insert: "(d) where the unborn is sixteen weeks gestation or older, an effective anaesthetic for pain relief shall be administered to the foetus before the medical procedure is commenced.” Truly, I regret that we even have to discuss this issue. However, we know what we are legislating for. We are legislating so terminations and abortions can take place, albeit in limited circumstances. If we must do so, the very least we should do is ensure the procedure will be pain-free for the little baby, the unborn, the foetus.

There is a lot of evidence to support the view that the unborn feels pain from 17 weeks onwards. Neonatal surgeons in the United Kingdom use anaesthetics in surgery on unborn children as they conclude they feel pain. A pro-choice professor, Professor Glover, called for anaesthetics to be used during abortions of unborn children from 17 to 24 weeks. She said that a foetus aborted between 17 and 24 weeks after conception may feel pain. To give her her due, she said she was pro-choice, which means supporting terminations and abortions, but she said that "one should not muddle the two". She stated, “One should think about how one is doing it in the most pain-free way.” What can the Minister tell us about foetal pain during a termination or abortion? Would he support me in saying that when a procedure must be carried out that will take the life of the unborn, it should happen in the most pain-free way possible? I plead with him to accept my amendment to enure the presence of an anaesthetist at every termination and abortion to ensure the baby, the unborn, will not feel pain.

According to Professor John Wyatt, consultant neonatal paediatrician at University College Hospital, London, and a member of the Commission of Inquiry into Human Fetal Sentience, anxiety is now stifling research. He said "no responsible scientist or clinician can publish work in this area without a certain degree of trepidation that it will be seized upon by spin doctors and propagandists from both sides of the abortion debate." In other words, he is saying we should forget about the spin doctors and look at the evidence. The evidence is that the foetus, the unborn, feels pain. Let us ensure the procedure is done in as pain-free and dignified a way as possible.

What is the Minister planning to approve in this jurisdiction? Will he accept my amendment providing that an anaesthetist should be present at every termination and abortion? It is the very least the Government could provide for. What does the Minister know about foetal pain during termination?