Jim Walsh (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I concur with Senator Mullen. We have a good maternal health system and the outputs are exceptional. Occasionally, people will get sepsis caused by superbugs. Unfortunately, it leads to their demise and that of their babies. The neighbouring island has a liberal abortion regime, but some argue that this Bill is more liberal, in that any baby aged more than 24 weeks on the neighbouring island cannot be legally aborted, while we will permit it right up to 39 weeks. Leaving that aside, people there who incur complications in pregnancy, such as sepsis, also die.

The idea has been put abroad that this Bill is a panacea for all situations and complications in pregnancy. Sadly, that is not the case. As in all other medical situations, it is not possible to be in a position to obviate the risk to life.

At one of our hearings, much play was made of the penalty of penal servitude for life, which relates to sections 58 and 59 of the Offences Against the Person Act. Despite that claim, penal servitude is no longer allowed under our laws. It is a myth perpetrated in order to canvass a smooth transition for the Bill. For this reason, I have no intention of making it easy for the Minister of State or any Senator to pass this Bill. I disagree fundamentally with what it is about to do.