Aontú Senator Sarah O’Reilly spoke in the Seanad today following the narrow defeat of People Before Profit’s abortion Bill, which was rejected in the Dáil by just two votes, 73 against and 71 in favour.
The Senator said she was struck by the irony of People Before Profit’s legislative priorities.
“I could not get over the irony last night of People Before Profit putting forward a Bill to ban fox hunting, while simultaneously pushing for abortion to be decriminalised right up to nine months. This Bill could have passed without a vote and would have succeeded, were it not for Deputy Peadar Tóibín who forced a vote on the issue.
“It was an extremely close vote, and that in itself is shocking. I commend the TDs who stood firm and voted against this extreme Bill, but it is deeply worrying how close we came to removing all remaining legal protections for unborn children.”
If the Bill had passed there would be no legal ramifications for doctors who provide late term abortions. People Before Profit were supported by Sinn Fein, Labour, Social Democrats, Greens as well as some members of Government including Health Minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill.
“Over recent weeks we have seen activists outside Leinster House holding placards and graphic images condemning fox hunting. They constantly talk about empathy but where is that same empathy for an unborn child?
Concluding, Senator O’Reilly said the vote exposed a troubling moral contradiction.
“Women are being betrayed by our abortion system. Between 2019 and 2022 there were 84 children born alive after failed abortion procedures. That is incredibly traumatic for the doctor, the parents and the baby. There is no clarity around the term ‘comfort care.’ In fact, what standards are in place for babies who are born alive?
“It is a very sad state of affairs when some TDs are willing to offer greater legal protection to foxes than to unborn children.”
