Rónán Mullen (Independent) | Oireachtas source

This amendment is effectively a consequential amendment that relates to section 12 abortions. As the Minister will recall, it was our desire to get the Minister to follow through on a pre-referendum commitment he gave that abortion would be specifically excluded where the certifying medical practitioner formed the reasonable view in good faith that it was being sought on the grounds of diagnosed disability. Our amendment also would have protected unborn children where abortion was sought on grounds of sex or race. Section 12 is the section in which abortion, the termination of pregnancy, the procedure intended to end the life of the foetus, is available without reference to grounds of medical necessity. It is very sad that only earlier today the Minister sought to cast scorn, as did others, on my use of the term "elective" to describe such abortions when I had already pointed out in my speech that the term "elective" is used by organisations such as the Irish Family Planning Association and Marie Stopes abortion providers, which it can be said do not care very much about the life of the unborn child. For the Minister to-----