Rónán Mullen (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I second what Senator Dolan said about the threat of job losses at Aptar in Ballinasloe and the need for a jobs task force for towns under 10,000 people.

Since we met last Tuesday, the statistics for abortions in the first year of its legalisation were published. Those figures show that 6,666 abortions took place here in 2019. To that figure must be added 375 abortions which took place in England and Wales for women who gave Irish addresses, giving a total of just over 7,041, or just over 7,000. It is clear now on any honest assessment that what many people, including me, predicted in the run-up to the referendum in 2018, has sadly come to pass, namely, that there would be a large increase in the number of Irish abortions. For 2018, the last year before abortion was legalised in Ireland, the number of abortions for Irish women in Britain had fallen to 2,879, but if we are to be fair, to that must be added an estimate for the number of illegal abortion pills imported, which the then Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, estimated at three a day or 1,100 in a year, which would give an estimated total of Irish abortions for 2018 of 4,000.An increase from 4,000 to 7,000 would be a jump of 75%, or 3,000 extra abortions. That is a margin of increase not far off twice the death rate inflicted by Covid-19 on our country. For people who do not believe that pre-born children have an intrinsic value or independent claim on our protection as a society, this increase is barely worth noticing. Among those must be counted certain leaders of the new Government who have chosen to remain silent in these days about the increase and who have not, to my knowledge, had to face any challenging questions from journalists. The Taoiseach, Mr. Martin, said that there was no sound basis for thinking that repeal would lead to an increase in abortion rates. The Tánaiste, Mr. Varadkar, said that abortion in Ireland post-repeal would be "safe, legal and rare". Finally, the Minister, Simon Harris, claimed that in countries that legalised abortion, abortion rates routinely decline.

The law in this area will remain settled as it is for the foreseeable future. However, the many people who believe that pre-born babies have inherent dignity and do have a right to society's care and protection, remain convinced and must insist that we need to have a conversation about why the only counselling agencies the State now supports are those that will put one in touch with abortion facilities as opposed to those who will help and support women, in practical ways, while giving them every reason to believe that their babies can and should be protected; a conversation about why there is not provision for pain relief in legal late-term abortion scenarios where there may be a question about foetal sentience and pain; and a conversation about what we can do together, regardless of differences of religious or philosophical outlook, or attitude to the legality of abortion, to promote positive alternatives to abortion and reduce the number of deaths, by abortion, as a positive social goal.

This issue will never be settled while the law turns its back on a single, innocent individual child or, indeed, on mothers who need a bit of help and encouragement that would take them to a better place. Can we not at least start by having a conversation? I ask the Leader to arrange a debate, as soon as possible, on the newly released abortion statistics and what we might learn from them.