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

I will first address amendment No. 4. I do not propose to accept it, as the main purpose of the Bill is to restate the general prohibition on abortion in Ireland in line with Article 40.3.3° of the Constitution while regulating access to lawful termination of pregnancy in accordance with the X case and the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights in the A, B and C v. Ireland case.

Section 22 sets out that it is an offence to destroy unborn human life intentionally. However, in order to regulate access to lawful terminations of pregnancy, exemptions are made under the terms of Bill where there is a real and substantial risk to the woman's life. I therefore do not propose to accept this amendment.

With regard to amendments Nos. 37 and 38, which concern the issue of viability, the Bill makes reference to a medical practitioner's reasonable opinion, which places a statutory duty on each medical practitioner forming an opinion to have regard to the need to preserve unborn human life as far as practicable. This imposes a clear duty on medical practitioners to make every effort to preserve the life of a foetus where possible.

A failure to do so would place a practical practitioner in breach of the proposed legislation and subject to its penalties.

It is not the purpose of the Bill to regulate obstetric procedures which do not constitute termination of pregnancy or to dictate the practice of obstetrics. Standard medical practice will provide appropriate mechanisms for assessment of both the woman and the unborn. It would not be appropriate to include this or other details of medical treatment in legislation. In other words, as we have said elsewhere, we cannot be prescriptive in terms of how members of the medical profession carry out their duty. Best practice changes in line with guidelines from the respective educational facilities, institutes and college. Therefore, I cannot accept the amendments.