Sharon Keogan (Independent)

The Women's Aid 2024 annual report published last week paints a harrowing picture of domestic abuse in this country. Among the most disturbing findings is that 188 pregnant, post-partum or post-termination women were supported by Women's Aid last year due to intimate partner abuse. This is not just a statistic; it is a national disgrace. Tragically, this issue is not abstract. Just this weekend, a 27-year-old mother of two was murdered in Donaghadee in Northern Ireland. She was 34 weeks' pregnant; two lives lost, two victims. Similarly, let us not forget the case of Ailish Walsh, a young woman from Dublin who was 22 weeks' pregnant when she was stabbed to death by her partner in 2022. The court heard he intended to kill her unborn child but no charges were brought for that death.

While both cases are from the UK, we have similar shortcomings in our own laws. Fellow Members of the House, the Pregnancy Loss (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2025 currently before this House rightly recognises the profound loss experienced by families whose babies die before the 24-week threshold for stillborn registration. This is a welcome step but does not go far enough. We must now ask, where is the legal protection for the unborn victims of violence? When a pregnant woman is attacked and her unborn child dies as a result, our laws do not treat that as a loss of a human life. This is a moral and legal failing. I intend to support any legislation to address this gap because justice must be done, not just for the women who suffer but for the unborn children who die unseen and unaccounted for.