Paul Coghlan (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister, even if I do not welcome the Bill. I apologise that I was not here yesterday for the debate on Second Stage. Some of us were in London with the Joint Committee on European Union Affairs.

I admire the respect for and recognition of conscience shown by my party leader, the Taoiseach, and the Cabinet in dealing this matter and the maturity of my party and Fianna Fáil in not taking a party stance, thereby permitting a free vote. Whether we like it, the Supreme Court has ruled that the only protection for the unborn is in the Constitution, not anywhere else. There is zilch otherwise. The Bill proposes the holding of a referendum to allow for the removal of that protection and not replace it with anything, but, worse than that, it proposes to follow its removal with a Bill providing for abortion without restriction up to 12 weeks and, in some specific instances, beyond that time period. Again, we should think of the position in Britain. We do not want to go down that road, as 9 million abortions have taken place there to date. We are the living; thanks be to God, our mothers gave us life and allowed us to be born, but we are now being asked to pass judgment on the most defenceless in society - future citizens who should feel safe in their mothers' wombs. For the life of me, I cannot understand how anyone could extinguish the life of their own flesh and blood. We have to pause and think very carefully, as legislators, about what we are about.