Fatal Foetal Abnormalities Bill 2014

I have said on the record on many occasions inside and outside the Chamber that I want to see in legislation a measure that would provide a legal framework for the termination of cases of fatal foetal abnormality. I would go further by allowing for terminations in cases where there is a severe threat to the ongoing health of the mother, and indeed in cases of rape and incest. I realise that there are validly held views on both sides of this argument. Not everyone would agree with the right to abortion in the latter cases. I honestly believe the vast majority of Irish people agree that the cases covered by Deputy Daly’s Bill should be legislated for. In fact, they find it incomprehensible that people are forced to carry pregnancies to term in these circumstances. I emphasise the word “forced” because I am aware that many women want to complete the pregnancy, even if it ends in just a few moments of life. Equally, there are women who would find it absolutely unbearable to carry a pregnancy that will end with a dead baby. This cannot be seen as a matter of using abortion as contraception, or as abortion on demand. It cannot even be seen as the right to choose. There really is no choice. In all of these cases, the babies are desperately wanted by their mothers, who are excitedly looking forward to giving birth. As the diagnosis of fatal foetal abnormality often comes very late in the pregnancy, the whole extended family is involved in the preparations and is looking forward to the arrival of a healthy baby. All we can offer to these women under the existing law is a trip to England.

Quite apart from the emotional misery and mental suffering that such a diagnosis brings, the pregnancy is usually quite advanced, which means that travelling presents an added physical danger. Irish women tend to present in hospitals at a much later stage than women who live in countries where safe and legal terminations are available because they need to make travel arrangements outside the State, organise to get this service in a hospital, find the money and, in many cases, organise babysitters. The stigma or perceived stigma associated with an abortion, and the lack of clarity around the law, means the level of communication between the mother and the doctor who has been caring for her is often restricted. There is often a complete breakdown in the continuum of care. In many cases, women turn up at hospitals when they are miscarrying or have already miscarried and are afraid to report to their doctors what has happened. The hospital might know exactly what has happened – that the woman has had the first stage of the termination procedure in Britain. There is a lack of communication. Nobody can speak about this issue because of the shame and the stigma that surrounds it and the fear caused by the chilling effect of our unclear legislation. This lack of communication is downright dangerous. It is an absolutely inevitable part of the covert and almost farcical behaviour that we oblige doctors and mothers to engage in.

It has been reported that Irish women going abroad are encountering further delays because hospitals have emerging waiting lists for procedures. Of course they are going to look after their own cases before they deal with Irish women. It is almost impossible to imagine what it must be like to get the news that one’s baby cannot survive outside the womb, and then to be told one will have to go on a waiting list.

One woman described it as torture and it is. I agree with Deputy Clare Daly that we should stop doing this to women. I really wish this Bill was the solution and the way to stop doing it but it is not. As Deputy Daly herself admits, it must be tested in the courts and must go straight back into the courts. How many times has it been said, both in this Chamber and in the courts themselves, that such decisions are for women in consultation with their doctors operating in a clear legal framework? Such decisions are not for the courts. However, there is no clear legal framework here and I honestly believe that if passed, this Bill would only complicate matters further.

I have stated previously and still believe the only way forward is to remove the eighth amendment from the Constitution following a national debate on what, as a society, we wish to see in terms of criteria for terminations. This should followed by clear, unambiguous but minimalist legislation that would lay down the broad parameters and limits of where terminations would be permitted but which would leave the precise detail and medical decisions to the doctors and patients, which is precisely what happens in absolutely every other area of medicine. I also have stated previously that I want the referendum that would allow such legislation take place as soon as possible. I believe Ireland is ready for and wants such a referendum and that people would wish to include the circumstances for which Deputy Clare Daly seeks to provide.

While I admire Deputy Daly for persisting with this issue, I believe that far from solving the problem, it might even make it more complex. The thesis is that the court should adjudicate on whether a foetus which cannot be born alive could be considered unborn and if not, then it is not protected by the eighth amendment. I note that after 40 years, Members are back trying to define “the unborn”. I recall that bitter debate, in which no one ever could decide what “unborn” meant. Even then, it was described as an exercise in trying to decide how many angels could dance on the end of a pin. We never found out, the courts do not know and we must stop tying ourselves in knots trying to find out what it is. The amendment is full of ambiguities and inconsistencies and in short, it is unfathomable and it is time to let it go. Enough women have suffered at its hands and it serves no one’s interests, certainly not women or their doctors. I share and understand Deputy Daly’s frustration and impatience but I honestly believe that for as long as the aforementioned amendment remains in the Constitution as the backdrop to and constraint on legislation, women will be ill-served and will continue to suffer the indignity of having their personal cases go before the courts. Every few months, cases – the details of which one cannot even conceive – go to the court and this will continue for as long as that amendment is in the Constitution.