My thanks to Deputy Cairns for bringing forward this Bill, which the Labour Party supports wholeheartedly. Compassionate care for women in real difficulty has been an issue for our party for many decades, long before it was mainstream for people to be talking about this. Indeed, many in the Labour Party were ostracised for many years. It is important to say at the outset that progress has been made over recent years in terms of the greater number of maternity units that are now providing access to termination of pregnancy. We know from this legislation that Deputies Cairns and Whitmore and others have brought to this House, that we still have a journey to travel. When two thirds of all voters cast their vote in favour of repealing the eighth amendment eight years ago I passionately believed that they were not voting for a situation that would continue to see over 1,500 women travelling for healthcare in subsequent years. They were not voting for the continued criminalisation of healthcare professionals or for couples with much-wanted pregnancies being forced into impossible circumstances due to the uncertain 28-day rule. In 2023 the latest available data available from the UK Department of Health and Social Care showed that 240 women from Ireland travelled to the UK for termination of pregnancy. I believe the people in this country voted to stop exporting our Irish problem abroad. We voted to ensure that women could get the necessary healthcare here and yet they are still having to travel. They are having to travel because of very specific difficulties and flaws within the legislation. When we voted eight years ago the legislation was put in place. People voted to take abortion, termination of pregnancy, and reproductive health out of Bunreacht na hÉireann and put it into the hands of the Oireachtas where representatives of the electorate could respond to the challenges or the issues that emerged. That is what we are doing here today. It is very regrettable to hear the Minister come in here and sympathise and acknowledge the issues and yet bring forward no plan or proposal as to what she is going to do. The electorate eight years ago backed a process where we would have a legislative review after three years. Marie O'Shea's report was a year-long process. It was detailed, methodical and expert led with extensive consultation with over 7,000 submissions. It detailed professional academic research into the experience of service users. To my mind this report has been undermined and ignored by this arrogant Government. There was a commitment that the Government would have the review. It took way longer than necessary to publish that review and three years on we have had nothing. There is a key question for the Minister today. The Minister has said she is going to fix the three-day wait. Why is the Minister not bringing forward her own legislation into the Dáil? While all very welcome, frankly it is not good enough to be offering meetings. Why is she doing that now? The Minister has been backed into a corner and this Government has been backed into a corner where it has no answer on commitments that it made to the Irish electorate that it would have a review and act on that review. There are accusations out there that those of us in the Opposition are now trying to change the goal posts. In reality, it is actually the Government trying to change the goal posts by failing to respond to Marie O'Shea's very detailed recommendations that were issued over three years ago. That is the undemocratic part of what we are talking about here today. With regard to the three-day period, we know from talking to doctors and to women that it is an unnecessary, impractical and stigmatising barrier to accessing the care that women need. When women go to their GP to say that they want to terminate their pregnancy they have already thought long and hard about it. They do not need to have a time to reflect. It is downright demeaning and degrading to be told go away for three days. While we acknowledge and respect that the Social Democrats have brought forward a particular mechanism with regard to the three-day wait, we in the Labour Party would be actually in favour of abolishing it altogether. It is much more straightforward. The World Health Organization has said very clearly that mandatory waiting periods can have the effect of delaying care - and I know that is the intent of is being proposed here - which can jeopardise women's ability to access safe and legal abortion services. Luxembourg and the Netherlands have entirely removed mandatory waiting periods. It is also important to say that we have overstretched GPs out there. From talking to many GPs, I know that they want to be able to support and help those women but finding those appointments within the three-day period is extremely difficult. If the Minister will not accept this Bill, we need her to bring forward her own Bill as soon as possible. With regard to the 12 weeks, again we know from so many women and from doctors how women time out unnecessarily from the 12-week limit. Marie O'Shea was very clear about the barrier put up by the 12-week gestational limits and that there was no provision for the completion of the incomplete termination of pregnancy, where medicines had already been taken. There were women who had undertaken consultation but then fell out of the 12-week period. There is no provision for them in the Act and we need to see a change in that. On the criminalisation of those providing care, we have an utterly bizarre situation in this country where those trying to provide abortion care have the prospect of criminalisation hanging over them while those who obstruct and disrupt can act with impunity. These are not my words, they are the words of Marie O'Shea in her report. With regard to the 28 days, of course as medicine and science develops there is always going to be an ambiguity and a lack of certainty about the length of time for a fatal foetal abnormality but I believe that when people were voting in 2018 they voted to trust women and particularly to trust doctors. We have to listen to the clinicians out there who tell us about the grave difficulties in having that firm cut-off period of 28 days. We in the Labour Party believe this needs to be looked at. I have been really struck over the past 18 months by the women who approached me telling me their stories and their successful stories of going through the Irish health system. There are good things happening out there but it is absolutely unacceptable for 240 women to be travelling abroad because they cannot get the care here. This needs to change. I commend the Social Democrats on bringing forward this Bill.

Sentiment score: 0.07