Rónán Mullen (Independent) | Oireachtas source

With regard to the amendment proposed by Senator Healy Eames, I have always been of the view that there are great sensitivities around two issues - how the reality of abortion changes according to different stages of gestation, and the issue of foetal pain. These are very relevant issues, particularly for those of us who see the need for two lives to be protected at all times, as far as practicable. For example, the issue arose previously regarding the display of images of aborted children and whether that is appropriate and sensitive. I am aware that Senator Walsh - I do not criticise him for this - caused a degree of controversy with his very frank account of what abortion can involve. That, perhaps, had the indirect, but desirable, effect of a discussion on radio, where people got to hear about some of the realities. Life deserves to be protected, regardless of the means of its ending.

There is no doubt that in terms of mere discussion, the ending of an unborn child's life at an early stage of pregnancy is not as evocative or as disturbing as that of the late-term ending of the unborn child's life. I have often felt that RTE is greatly to be criticised in this regard. While I would not suggest or ever support the random display of disturbing images - I have always been against that - I have always felt that we should be able to display some images, in the same way as we are invited to contemplate the effect of famine, on occasions, with appropriate warnings to people that the images they may see are likely to be disturbing. It seems strange and bizarre that as a public service broadcaster, RTE has never, over the years, introduced us to the reality of what abortion involves in clinics abroad, in Britain and America in particular.