Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) (Amendment) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed)
Seanad Éireann — 2022-10-06
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Regina Doherty (FG), Nominated by the Taoiseach

I do not think I am going to change the Minister's mind. I understand the Minister is saying that changing the language means there will be interventions which will protect the woman's pregnancy or the person's pregnancy. By association, we are supposed to assume or come to the conclusion that this means we would be intervening to protect the life of the baby. Have we become so politically sensitive, if that is the right way to put it, that we do not talk about babies in the womb anymore? It is bizarre. The healthcare directive, whether silent or not silent, should be all about protecting life. When a person is pregnant, there are two lives involved. We do not need to shy away from mentioning the fact, or being specific about the fact, that there are two lives involved. It is not just the pregnancy we are protecting. The baby is a part of the pregnancy as well as the mother we should be protecting. I do not know why we are so afraid to talk about that in language and legislation any more. It is mad.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2022-10-06/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:51:08+00:00
Sitting date: 2022-10-06