Rónán Mullen (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister, Deputy James Reilly. This matter arises from written question No. 655 submitted on 31 January 2014 to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe by Mr. Ángel Pintado, a Spanish MP, concerning late term abortions and the rights of newborns who survive late term abortions. As stated by him, in a number of European countries which allow late term abortions it happens that foetuses often survive. The Minister will recall that this issue was discussed in this Chamber last year.

News programmes and articles featuring interviews with health care workers reveal that it is not uncommon to find an aborted foetus with a beating heart and struggling to breathe. For example, it was reported that in the United Kingdom that 66 babies aborted in a particular year had been left to die after the abortions had gone wrong. In Sweden one such child lived autonomously for 90 minutes after the abortion and received no care before he died. In Norway there is evidence to show that some of these newborns could have been viable if they had received the appropriate medical care.

The question put to the Committee of Ministers by Mr. Pintado was what specific steps it would take to guarantee that foetuses that survived abortions were not deprived the medical treatment to which they were entitled as human persons born alive according to the European Convention on Human Rights. As a member state of the Council of Europe, Ireland must take a position on this question. I respectfully ask the Minister what position the Government has taken or will take on this matter when it comes before the Council of Europe. Having regard to the constitutional position in Ireland, in particular, I would have thought it behoved the Government to honour the spirit of the Constitution and defend the right to life of the unborn, particulaly in such cruel circumstances, and add its voice in defence of the right of the child to live. Also, who, on behalf of the Government, will contribute to the elaboration of the reply of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe?