Rónán Mullen (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Recent research from the United States indicates that they can feel pain as early as 18 weeks and that anaesthetics should be used from that point. We propose that they be used from 20 weeks. We have tried to avoid any unnecessary ambiguities. As I stated, the amendment does not apply to abortions under section 10 or where there is a reasonable belief that harm might be caused to the mother. However, it has been shown that the human nervous system begins to develop at six weeks and that sensory receptors, which allow pain to be felt, develop at seven weeks and are present across the body by 18 weeks. These are established scientific facts. It has also been shown that as early as six weeks, babies recoil and try to get away from any invasive procedure in the womb. They also show signs of increased stress and hormonal response in such situations. Although it has not yet been proven that they feel pain at that early stage, it clearly shows an inbuilt biological reflex of some kind that we should not simply ignore. In fact, there is evidence that children in the womb have a greater sensitivity to pain than newborn babies or adults because it is now thought that the physical ability to regulate and withstand pain does not develop until approximately 35 weeks.

One will notice that, as in other amendments, we have done our homework and seek not to obstruct but, rather, to bring basic standards of humanity to the legislation. The Government and its phalanxes of officials, campaigners, supporters, eminent doctors and so on have refused to engage on issues that are medically and scientifically relevant to the legislation and that is a scandal. In the United States, 12 states have laws which protect unborn children who have reached the stage at which they are capable of feeling pain. A Bill making its way through the US Congress would introduce such measures across all 50 states. It awaits the approval of the US Senate. Surely, what is good enough for some American unborn children should be good enough for Irish unborn children.

At the Oireachtas committee on 29 November 2017, I raised this issue with the aforementioned Mr. Peter Thompson who is involved in carrying out late-term abortions in certain cases. I got the distinct impression that I was asking him questions he had never before been asked because late-term abortion has been so normalised in Britain, where the great and the good nod their heads sagely and say that it is sometimes necessary. It was very clear from Mr. Thompson's references to the document from the royal college that while he sought to allege it is less likely that there is foetal pain, he did not have the language of certainty and appeared to be a stranger to the available research. How can a man who is involved in late-term abortions not be concerned to engage in precautionary pain relief, at least? What is so wrong with the precautionary use of an anaesthetic, particularly in late-term abortions? The amendment clearly provides for situations involving potential risk to the mother's health. What does it say about the great and the good of medicine that people so directly involved in late-term abortions are inclined to hedge when asked a question about what would be appropriate in terms of pain relief?

It has been regularly stated that the question of the administration of pain relief post-20 weeks' gestation promotes a view that women seeking late-term abortions are heartless and insensitive to the welfare of their unborn child. It has been repeatedly stated that this is an attempt to characterise obstetricians as inhumane and to reinsert the view that abortion is barbaric and not the normal, routine procedure this legislation would like to make it. Deputy O'Connell repeatedly made the point that raising the issue of foetal pain is about the "historical contamination of not trusting women". That is the language of evasion and the refusal to deal with medical scientific human realities because this is not about judging anybody but, rather, recognising that this legislation legalises abortions, including late-term abortions in certain situations and without a time limit under one particular heading, and that, therefore, the idea that there should be a requirement to administer precautionary pain relief should not be controversial.Whether pain relief is administered should not be a matter of how humane the doctor is. It is not a matter that touches on whether the woman is able to access an abortion. It is not asking much for a merciful adjustment to this legislation. It would require that, where a baby is believed to have reached the stage of 20 weeks of gestation, having regard to the emerging international evidence about foetal pain, no more and no less than what the science shows, there would be the requirement to administer pain relief, just as there would be if surgery was being done on an unborn child in the womb. That is what is being asked for, and sometimes specific pain relief for the child. Generally I understand pain relief in the context of analgesia given to the mother. As I said, we have not had a debate about when pain is felt, or whether pain relief is ethically justified or required, because to do that is to go down what the Minister might like to call a rabbit hole. It is not a rabbit hole. It is a real human issue that flows from the injustice of this legislation.