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

I will come back to Senator Doherty's view on pregnancy and reiterate the legal definition of a pregnancy, which is that it encompasses the period of time from implantation until delivery. The Bill states: "A woman shall be assumed to be pregnant if she exhibits any of the pertinent presumptive signs of pregnancy, such as misses menses, until the results of her pregnancy test are negative or until delivery." A foetus means "the product of conception from implantation until delivery". I support the proposal to change the word "pregnancy" to "foetus" as being more relevant, correct and legally correct.

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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