Bill about ‘internal politics of Fine Gael’
Richard Boyd Barrett of the United Left Alliance said that the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill was “a fudge and a sham and the lives of women have become secondary to the needs of Government and prevent a major split in its ranks”.
He was speaking as a number of Fine Gael TDs who had previously expressed strong reservation about the legislation said they would support it.
Because successive governments failed to legislate on the issue, women have “died and suffered”, Mr Boyd Barrett told the Dáil before announcing he would oppose the legislation along with five other pro-choice Independent TDs.
Women have been “forced to flee in the dead of night under a stigma of criminality and of doing something wrong when they simply wanted to protect their lives, their health, and their rights”, he said.
“The Government has vindicated none of those things and instead sought to protect Fine Gael and to assure Fine Gael’s political interests. That is a tragedy.”
Billy Timmins — a Fine Gael TD who lost the party whip when he opposed earlier votes on the issue — said the suicide clause will go down as “the most barbaric” bit of legislation since the foundation of the State.
He said he “cannot understand this Government — that we have the correct information in front of us but we are making an incorrect decision”.
He accused the Government of seeking to “endorse the emotion” of the death of Savita Halappanavar to support the bill: “This legislation would not have made one iota of a difference to her tragic situation.”
Health Minister James Reilly disagreed, saying it “would have brought clarity: Clarity to her and her husband as to what they were entitled to, and clarity to the doctors as to what their responsibilities were”.
Independent TD Catherine Byrne said she would support the bill because it was an improvement on the previous situation. But she said it was “highly, highly restrictive” and “we will see further tragedies”.
Dr Reilly agreed that it was very restrictive, but said that if TDs wanted him to ignore the Constitution and ignore the Supreme Court ruling on the X case, “I can’t and I won’t.”
He said: “It’s a republic that values all life, including the right of the unborn, and I’m proud to be a citizen of that republic.”
