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

While we are clarifying the record, Senator Jim Walsh has, on a number of occasions, described particular procedures in the context of the termination of pregnancy. He challenged me this morning to make a statement that these procedures will not be used under this legislation. I have spoken to the master of Holles Street and I am assured, as of this afternoon, that the practices Senator Walsh describes do not take place in this country. There is no dilation and evacuation of the remaining contents of a partially ended pregnancy in cases where a termination must take place and is carried out more than 12 weeks into a pregnancy. In pregnancies of under 12 weeks, while surgical options are available, the procedures used are primarily medical. In cases where the pregnancy is more than 12 weeks, the baby is induced and if it is viable, it will be looked after and saved. Sadly, this cannot be done if it is not viable.

Senator Mullen seems to describe every line he dislikes as a mantra. That is his prerogative but it rings hollow after a while. There is no lacuna in the Bill in relation to what he described because sections 7, 8 and 9 all state unequivocally that the medical practitioner may perform the medical procedure based on his or her reasonable opinion, "being an opinion formed in good faith, which has regard to the need to preserve unborn human life as far as practicable".

It could not be clearer.