Peadar Tóibín: 10,852 Lives Lost, Defend Three-Day Wait

Kirby Pedder-Toby. Kirby Lemongrath. Éireann Comhairle. Éireann Comhairle, last year there were 10,852 abortions in Ireland. The lives of 10,852 individual living human beings were ended last year as a result of the legislation that was passed a number of years ago. It's the highest figure in record. It's equivalent to 400 classrooms of children who are no longer here with us today as a result of that abortion law. It's absolutely heartbreaking. And in relation to all of the politicking that we see in this chamber today on this issue, there's absolutely no recognition of the human cost, the human devastation of thousands of lives being lost in this country on an annual basis. In 2018, there were 2,879 abortions. And since that law was deregulated, the number of abortions has surged. It has tripled in just seven years. And yet there is no effort by the political establishment at all to understand why there is such a surge. There's no efforts to ameliorate this awful human cost. So high is the abortion rate today is that it's now affecting the birth rate of this country. That's not the only reason that the birth rate is falling at the moment. Obviously, the cost of living crisis, the housing crisis, the cost of childcare are all pushing down in relation to the birth rate. But you can't have 10,852 abortions on an annual basis without it impacting on the birth rate of a country. In 2009, there were 77,000 children born in Ireland. 54,000 children were born in 2024. That's a startling collapse in the birth rate of this country. And the really shocking thing is the lack of housing, the cost of living, the cost of childcare, all of those issues is not more to the fore in relation to Sinn Féin's approach to this at all. Indeed, there were dozens of women who gave birth last year homeless. Thousands of couples are postponing having children, are not having children at all, not because they don't want a family, it's because the policies of this government make it so difficult for them to have a child. So what's the response of the political establishment? Three separate abortion bills this year, and it's only June. Sinn Féin experienced a collapse in their support in recent years. They've become confused on where they stand in the political spectrum. They're flip-flopping on a number of core values. And this bill, I believe, is an effort to readjust themselves into the political spectrum again. It's more about political competition than it is in any effort to deal with the bread and butter challenges that families are having. And why do I say that? Because it's not based on evidence. Abortion is a massive decision. It's irreversible. A child cannot be brought back after an abortion, and it can lead to a lifetime of regret with mothers. For any big decision, a time of reflection is key. And there are a few elective procedures that can be done on the same day. You can't get a mole removed, have cosmetic surgery, be sterilized without a reflecting period to wait for that operation. Now, we know that the three-day wait period is actually working itself. And how do we know this? And this is key, because 10,000 mothers who attended their first abortion meeting simply did not attend their second abortion meeting. There are 10,000 children alive today in this country as a result of that three-day wait. And when the abortion review was being discussed at the health committee, I asked the chair of that review a direct and important question. Before recommending the three-day wait was to be abolished, had she spoken to one woman who went to the first abortion appointment, took three days to reflect, and then changed her mind and kept her baby? One woman, I asked her. She spoke to no woman. She admitted on the record of the committee she didn't speak to one woman who availed of a three-day wait. An incredible omission. The government report recommended a change in the law to get rid of the last remaining protection and nobody who authored that report sought to speak to one mother who availed of that reflection period. No author of that report actually took the time to speak to one of the thousands of children who are alive today and ask them what is their view of the reflection period. Right now there are thousands of children alive. Some sitting around their family tables, some playing in their gardens, or simply laughing to cartoons on television as a result of this law. And it's Sinn Féin's objective to get rid of that law. It's an incredible situation. I would ask the Sinn Féin frontbench, have they spoken to any of these mothers? Have they spoken to any of these children? I received an email today, and I'm sure the other deputies got this email too, one of many that has been received on this particular issue. It was a case of an individual who accompanied her friend to an abortion appointment in 2022. Her friend, who had just found out she was pregnant, was adamant that she wanted an abortion and very likely would have taken an abortion pill then and there if it was offered to her. But by the time the three-day wait had elapsed, she had changed her mind, having received support from her friends and gotten over the initial shock of being pregnant. Today, according to that email, the woman often remarks that she cannot imagine her life without her son. The person sending the email questioned why Sinn Féin was pushing the three-day wait be abolished and why they were doing this without consulting the people who it had affected. So listening to other local and national news stations, I can tell many people are very disappointed with Sinn Féin and using their chance to speak today and not tackle the cost of living crisis, not tackle the cost of childcare crisis, but to push for more abortions. There's no desire for this change. It's not being raised at the doors. There are no petitions. There are no protests. There's no email campaigns. In fact, it's the opposite. Many people are shocked and angry, and no wonder they're shocked and angry because, Minister, they were lied to. They were lied to by right across the political debate here, and I'll tell you why. Simon Harris said in an interview in the Irish Times in 2018, he said the proposed legislation would allow women to access care on consultation with their doctor for up to 12 weeks only. In this case, a three-day pause would be in place for women to access all information and counselling and make a considered decision. That's what the leader of your political party said. Simon Harris could see in 2018 that there was a need for a woman to access information and counselling ahead of a life-changing decision, one that we all recognize has a heavy physical and mental weight. The Tornister knew that this pause was required to make a considered decision that was irreversible. So why now is the Tornister removing that considered decision? What happens when any of us are rushed into a crisis situation in an ill-considered or an irreversible decision, Minister? Simon Harris also said the three-day wait period must elapse between certification and the procedure being carried out. This requirement is not unusual. Several countries in Europe, including Belgium, Germany, have similar provisions. The leader of your political party, the Taoiseach said from Fianna Fáil, there were clear commitments given during that campaign of a framework that would be for the facilitation of this. And in my own view, as we went door to door, we said here the framework is in terms of the actual referendum and the three-day wait period. And I think that is needed when you have a referendum to fulfill those commitments. So the two leaders of the government in relation supporting this. To be honest, I'm not particularly surprised that we have a flip-flop in relation to Simon Harris or even Michal Martin in this. Two TDs that are well on the record of stating in this chamber before that they fully recognize that an unborn child is a living individual human being. And then when the media and political winds changed, they simply voted for abortion. A simple case of these are my principles, and if you don't like them, I have others. So many people, including a large number of people who voted for repeal, are disgusted at being duped by the political establishment in relation to this. And it's interesting the way the vote is going to carry out. Tomorrow I believe there's a free vote amongst Fianna Fáil and Fianna Gael and maybe some of the other political parties. Sinn Féin won't have a free vote in this. Probably the only mainstream political party in the whole of Western Europe and North America to enforce a whip on this issue. There are TDs in Sinn Féin today who are against this. And they will have to vote against their conscience, their better judgment, and the evidence in that if they want to remain within that political party. And I believe that is wrong. Those individuals should have an opportunity to vote in the direction that they want to. The right to life is a human right. It is the most important human right we have. No other rights, the right to free speech, the right to assemble, can be guaranteed without the right to life. And if you take the right to life of any human being, well then that is a major challenge to all the rest of their human rights. And the definition of a human right is that it's universal. It applies to all humans. And if an unborn child is not a human being, what species is the unborn child? So it's really, really important, I think, that we have a time of reflection ourselves in here in Leinster House. We have to remember, first of all, what we need to do in relation to giving mothers across this country the economic confidence to be able to raise their families, not like they're in this situation. We have to look at the evidence of this committee, a committee that completely ignored the 10,000 women who didn't attend the second abortion meeting, and the thousands of children that are alive today as a result of it. And we also have to look to the clear commitments that was made right across this chamber in relation to that legislation and ask ourselves, is this what we're saying to the people of Ireland? Vote for this. In a few years, we will radically change it. So I would implore any of the TDs opposite who have a free vote, who can actually exercise their judgments on this issue, I would implore them to make sure that one of the last protections that exists in this state in terms of the most vulnerable would be protected.