Terry Leyden (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Thirty five years later I feel very privileged to be a Member of Seanad Éireann and to uphold the objectives of the eighth amendment to prevent abortions, only in accordance with the wording then agreed. What was lacking in that Bill was that guidelines should have been issued and ministerial orders should have been prepared to assist the work of the medical profession in that regard. That was not provided at that time. It left doctors in a very precarious situation when it came to the question of the equal right to life of the mother or the unborn. I want to make that point clear.

If I voted against abortion then and am against abortion now, and if I was a pharmacist, I would not and could not participate in providing abortion in this country. I would either lose my professional position or go against my conscience.