Ivana Bacik (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the House. I am sure that he will respond to Senator Norris. From my knowledge of women who have travelled to England, many availed of abortion through private clinics rather than via the NHS. I believe that the rule in question only relates to the NHS.

For the reasons set out by Senator Burke, I oppose the wording of amendment No. 1 in principle. It is also legally and technically unsound, in that it refers to current medical practice without stating from when the time is measured. Would it be current at the date of enactment, the date of debate or the date at which it is to be interpreted in two, three, four or five years' time? For many reasons, it is a problematic amendment.

Generally, it is not helpful to the debate on Report Stage for proposers of amendments to use graphic or insensitive language in doing so. We need to be respectful in the House in our use of language, particularly when discussing a sensitive topic like abortion. Remarks in this House last week caused offence, as Senator Burke mentioned. We should behave in a professional and respectful manner. This is not children's television, but neither is it Fox News. We are not here to shock or appal people with our language. We are here to have a reasoned, respectful debate with emotion and passion. It should reflect reality as people understand it.

We are debating the definition of "medical procedure". It is from the UK's Department of Health statistics for last year that we derive our information about the majority of Irish women who have abortions. Of the nearly 4,000 women who had abortions, 85% were carried out in the first trimester and a small number were carried out beyond that. There is a sad and disturbing story in today's The Irish Times of a woman who died last year having reportedly had an abortion at 20 weeks gestation. From what little we know, that case illustrates the difficulty-----