Rónán Mullen (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 24:

In page 9, lines 38 and 39, to delete all words from and including “that” in line 38 down to and including line 39 and substitute the following:"that—

(a) the pregnancy concerned has not exceeded 12 weeks of pregnancy, and

(b) a termination of the pregnancy concerned is not being sought because of the sex or race of the foetus concerned or because of any condition or disability affecting the foetus concerned.".

Amendment No. 24 modifies section 12, which has to do with abortion in early pregnancy when, as we all know, abortion is available without having to give a reason by adding a condition that the certifying doctor is of the reasonable opinion formed in good faith that the termination of pregnancy concerned is not being sought because of the sex or race of, or any condition or disability affecting, the unborn child concerned. The amendment is straightforward and is intended to encode anti-discrimination provisions in the legislation. It reflects the fact that during the referendum the Minister made numerous commitments to the Irish people that discrimination against people with disabilities would not be permitted under the new legislation. The amendment simply seeks to ensure abortions do not occur on discriminatory grounds that have long been recognised in society as an unacceptable basis for treating people differently.

Unfortunately, abortion for disability reasons is shockingly common in countries where it is permitted. Abortion due to gender is less common in western countries than in some cultures but it still occurs. While gender and disability require testing to be determined, both can be determined before the 12-week point, as emerged in the discussions and debates prior to the referendum. It is clearly unjust and discriminatory, even by the standards of people who regard themselves as supporters of abortion, to permit abortion based on disability or the race or gender of the unborn child.

A number of years ago in a previous Seanad I brought forward a Private Members' motion to draw attention to and raise the issue of gendercide, which is an appalling and scary phenomenon in parts of our world where we have a huge demographic imbalance because of the targeted abortion of girl children. This is in countries such as China, India and parts of the Caucasus. I remember reading about how it also led to other problems downstream, when because of the imbalance between the number of men and women there was trafficking of women from other countries into China and men unable to find wives were described in the culture as bare branches.

To deny people a benefit they deserve, let alone to deny them the rest of their life, based on gender, race or disability is not something that any society should countenance. This is reflected in the Employment Equality Act 1998, as amended, and other equality legislation. Any suggestion that abortion on such discriminatory grounds would not happen here is a naive proposition or flows from a determined unwillingness to learn from the experience of other countries that have legal abortion.

Prior to the referendum, the Minister promised people that the Bill would not allow abortions for non-life-limiting disabilities but unless the amendment is included in the Bill he will fail to fulfil this promise since section 12 permits abortion without having to give any reason, in other words, abortion for any reason without having to state it. During the campaign, the Minister stated we have specifically excluded disabilities as grounds for abortion in the legislation. When one is specific one makes a positive statement about something. Senator Norris might or might not agree with me.