Seanad debates

Wednesday, 28 March 2018

An Bille um an Séú Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht 2018: Céim an Choiste agus na Céimeanna a bheidh Fágtha - Thirty-sixth Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2018: Committee and Remaining Stages

 

10:30 am

Photo of Michael McDowellMichael McDowell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

By way of a footnote, I have heard a number of people say that their mother had told them that she had contemplated having an abortion and if that had happened they would not be here today. It sounds like a very good point. If we think about it, if a child's parents had decided, that child being the fourth in a family, that they were only going to have three children and had used contraception, that fourth child would not be here today. The accident of our birth is incalculable when we reflect on it. If one's father had used a condom or if one's mother had used a diaphragm or an IUD, one would not be here today. All of us could say that about ourselves, namely, that if our parents had made a different choice we would not be here today, but that does not prove that contraception is wrong. Likewise, it does not prove the case for retaining the eighth amendment.

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