There is a moment in politics where the language we use in this Chamber becomes so sanitised and so carefully engineered that we risk losing sight of what we are actually talking about and debating. This is one of those moments because today we are not debating an administrative change or paperwork. We are debating whether the State should remove one of the last remaining safeguards before deliberation of ending an unborn human life. Before this House votes to dismantle that safeguard, we should ask ourselves some very uncomfortable questions. Why are the Social Democrats so determined to remove even a three-day reflection? If abortion is such an unquestionable, clear decision, or a very easy case, then we must also ask why HSE figures show that 10,000 women did not return after the initial consultation of the three-day waiting period between 2019 to 2024. That is 10,000 women; 10,000 moments when somebody stepped back; 10,000 moments when doubt entered that room; 10,000 moments when women realised that they needed more support or more time or that there were other options available to them; and 10,000 moments when a life had been saved. That matters, and it is important we put that on the record. Let us stop pretending that this debate exists in a moral vacuum. Last year alone, more than 10,800 abortions took place on this island. That is over 10,000 unborn children, not statistics, not medical episodes or procedures and not lines in a spreadsheet but human lives. It is tiny hearts that beat, tiny hands, tiny faces - children who under other circumstances would be here today playing in classrooms and parks, celebrating birthdays and growing up in Irish families.

Sentiment score: 0.17

Yet, there was an argument before this House that does not remark on the tragedy of the loss of 10,000 human lives. The argument is that there is too much time to hesitate and we must remove that time. If the position of the Social Democrats is a moral certainty, then the question for it is why is it afraid of three days? That is three days for reflection, three days for people to speak to their family, three days to seek counselling and three days to escape the panic, fear, coercion or pressure that person may be put under. The reality is that for many women facing crisis pregnancies, those decisions they are making are not in calm circumstances. Some are very frightened, some are abandoned, some are financially desperate, some are under intense emotional pressure and some believe they have no supports or no alternatives available to them. Instead of this House building a society that says we will help them, stand beside them and be there because they and their child matter, the answer increasingly offered by the State is remove the pause and accelerate the process.

Sentiment score: -0.44