Rónán Mullen (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I believe we need to invite the Minister for Health to come before the Seanad to debate the regulation of crisis pregnancy services. The Second Stage of the Labour Party's Private Members' Bill on this issue, which enjoys Government backing, was debated in the Dáil last week. In principle, I wholeheartedly support the idea of regulating counselling services in this area. However, in the Dáil last week, the Minister, Deputy Harris, kept referencing an anti-abortion counselling agency that featured in a recent newspaper exposé. However, he chose not to mention the well-documented illegal and life-endangering counselling practices at State-funded clinics run by abortion-campaigning group, the Irish Family Planning Association, IFPA.

The Minister, Deputy Harris, knows well that IFPA counsellors were caught on tape telling women to lie to their doctors to say they had a miscarriage and not an abortion where complications might arise after their abortions. That was the advice that a master of a Dublin maternity hospital said would put women's lives at risk. The Minister, Deputy Harris, also knows that IFPA counsellors were caught on tape coaching women on how to illegally import abortion pills to self-administer without medical supervision. These are just two of many abuses unearthed at IFPA centres.

It beggars belief that the Minister for Health would not condemn what went on there. Such double standards are breathtaking. In the Dáil last week, Deputy Joan Burton even thanked the IFPA for its assistance in drafting the Labour Party Bill. This is banana republic territory. A whistleblower from that IFPA investigation contacted me this week to say that she was sickened after watching last week's Dáil debate. She described it as a slap in the face to the many women who suffer in silence with life-long regrets as a result of bad advice they received at the hands of the IFPA and others. I also believe there is no excusing the dismissive attitude of the Minister, Deputy Harris, in the Dáil last week when Deputies Mattie McGrath and Michael Collins raised legitimate and well-researched concerns.We could also talk about the IFPA receiving six-figure sums from George Soros's Open Society Foundations to promote abortion in Ireland. We could discuss how we feel about large international foundations funding and directing abortion campaigning in Ireland. For now, I call on the Minister for Health, Deputy Simon Harris, to meet the whistleblowers who exposed the IFPA wrongdoing. It is the very least he could do, particularly after last week's Dáil performance. I propose we invite the Minister to come here and debate the issue as a matter of urgency.