Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Much has been said about protection for the unborn. I hope for more discussion in that regard because we all want to protect life. I do not believe we are divided in that respect although, at times, it may suit us to pretend that we are. No one in the House is more pro-life than I. It is ridiculous to say that a person is anti-life. We are all pro-life. The issue is what sort of protections there are for life. Some of the detail I published today requiring that a doctor considering providing an abortion on health grounds must assess viability and deliver if the pregnancy is viable effectively puts a ban on late term abortions that is not in place in the United Kingdom. Perhaps those who pretend that we are introducing the world's most liberal abortion regime and such nonsense will acknowledge that there will be an effective ban on late term abortions which does not exist on our neighbouring island of the United Kingdom. People will see that when they read the legislation and they will recognise that when they talk to the Institute of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists instead of pretending to be obstetricians and gynaecologists. There is protection in terms not only of a woman having to consent and say that there is a serious risk to her health but also that two doctors, at least one of whom must be an obstetrician with the other being a clinical expert in the area, must agree with that view. Clinical guidelines to address what doctors should do in different situations will be drawn up by the Irish College of General Practitioners, ICGP, and the Institute of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. The Supreme Court stated that its adjudication in the recent case on the right to life did not mean that the unborn is constitutionally or legally invisible. That section of the judgment is rarely quoted. It references the common good and how all laws passed by these Houses must address that, but that point has not been dealt with by opponents of the Bill.

However, the greatest protection for the unborn comes from women and mothers.