Last year, there were 10,852 abortions in Ireland. That is the lives of 10,852 individual living human beings that were ended last year, and that is the highest figure on record. It is equivalent to 400 classrooms of children, and it is absolutely heartbreaking. In 2018, there were 2,879 abortions and since that law was deregulated, the number of abortions in this country has surged. It is incredible. So high now is the rate of abortion in this State that is affecting the birth rate. For sure, the housing crisis and cost-of-living living crisis are also affecting the birth rate but the birth rate is collapsing in part because of the high abortion rate in this country. Abortion is a massive decision. It is irreversible. A child cannot be brought back. It can also lead to a lifetime of regret for the mother. In the case of any big decision, reflection is key. There are very few elective procedures that can be done in one day. People cannot get a mole removed or cosmetic surgery or be sterilised without a wait to reflect. We also know that three-day wait period is actually working for families. We know that 10,000 mothers attend the first abortion meeting and they did not attend the second one. There are thousands of children alive in their homes today as a result of that three-day wait period. When the abortion review was being discussed in the health committee in the previous Dáil, I asked the chair of that review a direct and important question. I asked her, before she recommended getting rid of the three-day wait, whether she had spoken to one woman who had decided to keep her child and take those three days to reflect and she admitted that she had not spoken to one woman who had taken that time. That is an incredible admission and it completely undermines the evidential nature of the review itself. One in six mothers who attended their first abortion appointments did not attend the second one and I have no evidence that the Social Democrats or any other political party here has spoken to those women to ask them what their views are on the three-day wait. I also want to talk about the so-called "chilling effect" in terms of criminal penalties. That is a fiction in this country. The opposite is actually the case. Baby Christopher was a fully healthy unborn child. His life was terminated at 16-weeks gestation. His parents were wrongly told that he had a fatal foetal abnormality, and it was not an accident. This was not a mistaken diagnosis in this situation. Their child was taken from them. There have been no efforts, by the law or this Government, to follow up in any way in relation to that. Baby Christopher is not unique. Many other women and mothers have lost their children in similar situations. Eighty-five percent of mothers have abortions for socioeconomic reasons. There is nothing in this Bill to provide economic supports to mothers so that they can raise their children to their full potential. There are dozens of women giving birth in this country homeless.

Sentiment score: -0.03

There is nothing in this Bill to provide supports to those mothers who need a home. We were told eight years ago to accept the democratic will of the people. I would ask these parties to do the same.

Sentiment score: 0.38