Marie Louise O'Donnell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 55:

In page 15, line 28, to delete “in accordance with the provisions of this Act” and substitute “with the consent of the woman”.

I have proposed amendments Nos. 55 and 63 in this grouping. I will make two points. Amendment No. 55 proposes to delete "in accordance with the provisions of this Act" and substitute "with the consent of the woman". It is radical. However, it targets criminalisation by ensuring women are protected from coerced abortion but simultaneously removes from the ambit of the criminal law any person, including any doctor, who performs an abortion outside the terms of the Act, avoiding the chilling effects of unjustified criminalisation.

I would like the Minister to think about it. Senator Bacik said earlier that even though we are at a very tired hour women have become non-central. They seem to be getting pushed back. I want to bring them back to centrality. I spoke about this earlier and it links back to seriousness. It also links back to a woman's own assessment of the threat to her health so it is not always somebody else's assessment of the threat to her health. There have been situations where women have been subjected to very degrading and inhuman treatment in certain circumstances. I know the Minister will speak to the amendments on Report Stage so I will not delay the House any more. I am very conscious of bringing women back into the centrality of what we are talking about here.

Amendment No. 63 proposes to insert, "This section shall not apply to a medical practitioner acting in good faith." It is intended to provide additional reassurance to doctors and reaffirm the good faith defences already contained in the various grounds provisions of the legislation. We are assuming that decriminalisation will not be accepted but we need to target any criminal offences to achieve the Minister's objective of protecting women and to reduce the chilling effects to ensure women's procedural rights of access to legal abortion are secured in accordance with the European Court of Human Right judgment in the A, B and C v. Ireland case of 2010.

Can the Minister explain whether the continued criminalisation is on the assumption that the foetus retains certain rights even after repeal? What are those rights? The Minister might want to think about those questions. I do not want to delay the House. I am against the criminalisation and I want to bring women right back into the centrality of the argument so it is not always somebody else making the decision, which has been compounded for the past six hours.