Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

This opportunity, however, is denied to Irish women who make lonely journeys to other countries or who are accessing abortion pills online and taking them alone and unsafely.

In the general scheme approved by the Government, it is proposed that it will be an offence to terminate a pregnancy otherwise than in accordance with the provisions set out in the general scheme. However, a woman who procures or seeks to procure a termination of pregnancy for herself in such circumstances would not be guilty of an offence. It is not about criminalising pregnant women. It is about making it clear that it is an offence to take the life of the unborn outside of the specific criteria set down in legislation.

Should a referendum on Article 40.3.3° be passed by the people, the Government would also propose to provide in legislation for several other issues not covered by the joint committee in its recommendations. These would include, for example, setting out provisions similar to those in the 2013 Act on consent and on permitting conscientious objection. Conscientious objection will be permitted. In line with the 2013 Act, it would be proposed to require notification of each procedure by the medical practitioner to the Minister for Health. Similarly, it would be proposed that provision would be made for a formal review process for a woman in certain defined circumstances. Reports on notifications and reviews would be published annually by the Minister and the HSE, respectively, as is currently the case.

It must annoy members of the committee that all of the attention is often on the termination aspect of the report.The committee did extraordinarily good work on how we reduce the number of crisis pregnancies, how we support women in crisis pregnancies, how we support women through bereavement, through perinatal loss and how we also protect our young people and reduce the number of crisis pregnancies through broader access to contraception.

Earlier this year, as many Senators know, I established a group under the chairmanship of the Chief Medical Officer to address and formulate an effective and comprehensive response to the issues raised by the joint committee in the ancillary recommendations of the report. I am pleased to inform the Seanad that today Government approved a proposal to progress the ancillary recommendations which include: sexual health and relationship education; sexual health and enhanced crisis pregnancy prevention; and obstetric care and counselling.

I will now outline the details of this proposal. On sexual health and relationship education, a comprehensive sexual health education, information and promotion programme will be developed and delivered in line with our national sexual health strategy, which aims to encourage the development of healthy sexuality throughout life and reduce negative sexual health outcomes. The programme will support work in the education and youth sectors, in particular, and any changes to school-based education provision arising from consideration of this by my colleague, the Minister for Education and Skills. This three-year programme will include: revised and enhanced resources and other supports for teachers in both post-primary and primary schools; implementation of sexual health promotion training for professionals in the youth sector, those working with at-risk groups, and parents; a new sexual health and safer sex public advertising campaign; a sexual health initiative within higher and further education sectors; and a repeat of the general population survey on sexual health and crisis pregnancy to provide up-to-date data on crisis pregnancy and sexual health, which can help inform and implement our policies.

The sexual health and relationship education programme will be complemented by a women's health scheme that will focus on pre-conception health, family planning, contraception, counselling, sexual health promotion and prevention of sexually transmitted infections. I intend to appoint a working group to prepare proposals for the development of a scheme that would include the aforementioned initiatives. I want to look at how best we make contraception more freely available to more Irish women. This would require legislative change. It is appropriate that I ask the expert group on women's health to look at how best to implement such a scheme. I will be very happy to work with colleagues on a cross-party basis in that regard. In addition, the working group will be asked to consider an extension to the provision of emergency hormonal contraception. In the meantime, I will move to enhance the provision of services aimed at reducing negative sexual health outcomes, including crisis pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections in line with the aims of the national sexual health strategy 2015-2020. This will include a comprehensive education, information and promotion programme as well as an extension to the availability and distribution of free barrier contraception supported by a co-ordinated and integrated approach to sexual health promotion, to support safer sex behaviours, increased awareness of risks and promotion of testing, counselling and other services.

The Government has also agreed that I can progress the following measures to improve maternity and support services in line with our national maternity strategy: additional consultants in obstetrics and gynaecology, neonatology and anaesthesia, as well as midwives and allied health professionals to standardise care in terms of quality and safety, geographic location and socio-economic status. We cannot have a postcode lottery when it comes to accessing safe and comprehensive maternity services. The approval of Government today that we can progress the additional consultants in these areas will make a real difference to women right across our country.