Catherine Noone (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As a legislator, I have a duty of care to the women of Ireland to do something about this matter, as does the Minister for Health, Deputy Simon Harris, who has shown amazing leadership on it. We all have a duty of care. Abortion is happening every day in Ireland in the privacy of bedrooms and God knows what circumstances. Granted, the abortion pill is a relatively safe method of dealing with the matter. However, it is simply not a satisfactory policy to allow women to be unsupported by their general practitioners and medics in whatever guise in such circumstances. That is not to speak about the women who, every day, travel out of Dublin Airport or take a ferry, depending on their financial circumstances or time constraints, to the United Kingdom and, in increasing numbers, the Netherlands and other countries to access care that we do not allow them to access in this country. That is not a madly liberal view to have. It is common sense that this country should at long last recognise that women need more compassion. Those who do not want a scintilla of reform in this area believe what I am proposing is extremely liberal. What I want to know is what do these legislators propose we do. Should we continue to ignore and export this problem? Should we start to invoke our laws and criminalise women?

Senator Michael McDowell's points about the abortion pill were well made. This would not happen in any other area of medicine because we would seek to stamp it out. We have rigid policies in place to stamp it out where it does happen. However, we cannot do so in this case because it would cause further harm. Abortion pills had an instrumental and highly significant role in the deliberations of the joint committee. Speaking for myself, I was unaware of the extent of their use. Like my colleague, Senator Jerry Buttimer, I sincerely hope the information provided for the joint committee will be disseminated to members of the public in order that they can arrive at a full understanding, notwithstanding the cloud of emotive misinformation, that the reality is finally being addressed by policy makers. We have to face up to the fact that Irish women are in this position every day and that we need to fundamentally trust them and their doctors. Control has been at the heart of this issue until now and women need to get back some control over their health care. The men and women of Ireland, when it comes to a vote in May, will have an opportunity to show the compassion women deserve.

It is important to be clear on another matter and I am sure the Minister will make the same point. Senator Mark Daly and other speakers made a point about the legislation. The legislation on which the Minister and his officials have worked so hard in recent weeks is based on a cross-party committee's report. Members spent hours in the bowels of this building hearing facts and evidence. Despite what others would like people to believe, the proposed legislation is not Government legislation as such but cross-party legislation that is supported by the leaders of every party in the Oireachtas.

I will finish on the following point because I am aware that I am making another Second Stage speech.