Ivana Bacik (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister, and I welcome the opportunity to speak on this group of amendments. For the Labour Party Senators, I have certainly signed up to amendment No. 6. I endorse what Senator Kelleher said about a non-exhaustive list of guidelines to define this question. I agree with Senator Gavan about the danger of inserting a statutory definition of "harm" or "serious harm". The better approach from the point of view of women's health is to refer simply to "harm".

There are other ways of dealing with this. Along with a group of other Senators I have also signed up to amendments Nos. 8, 9, 16, 17 and 39, which would change the word "avert" in section 9 and the other sections to "avert or mitigate". That deals with some of our concerns to some extent. Those concerns are essentially about the threshold of risk being too high for women's health and indeed for the medical personnel who are treating them. I know the Minister takes the point on board, and I will say what I said on Second Stage. My priority and that of my Labour Party colleagues is to see women having access to abortion services from 1 January. We are very anxious to get this Bill through and that it is the best it can be for women and for all of us.

I am very glad that the Minister indicated on Second Stage that he will be bringing forward legislation in the new year to provide for safe access zones or exclusion zones, something Deputy Alan Kelly and others in the Dáil have looked for. I am very happy to hear that is happening. That legislation will also give us an opportunity to deal with some of the issues we may not be able to deal with here in the Seanad. I know we all feel very strongly that in some cases the threshold of access to treatment may be too high. That is really the purpose behind amendments Nos. 6, 14 and 37; to ensure that the provisions are workable and that women will have access. I certainly will not be pushing amendment No. 6 at this Stage, though I am a co-signatory with others. What they do is up to them. I am keen to hear what the Minister has to say on that issue and to deal with it when we come to the fifth group of amendments. Those amendments deal with the issue of assessment of risk. They seek to modify the language to make it somewhat less onerous and a less significant threshold for women and for doctors.