Reproductive Rights (Amendment) Bill 2026: Second Stage [Private Members]
Dail Éireann — 2026-05-13
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Ruth Coppinger (PBP), Dublin West

-----because it supported Bríd Smith's Bill in the previous Dáil and now it is responding to the far right and other individuals who criticised it on the vote recently. Now, it is circling the wagons and women's rights have to pay the price. It really is shocking but it is good to bring clarity for people as to where parties stand.
Let us be clear: decriminalising is to prevent women being criminalised as well for taking an abortion pill after 12 weeks or whatever in their bedroom. However, it is also to get rid of the chilling effect that prevents doctors from acting to save lives and save health, and it is also forcing doctors to send women abroad with abnormalities because they are not deadly sure. That is why it is decriminalising. Stop pretending that it is protecting women and, really, that nonsense where it tries to say that it was because of that. It is very disappointing to hear that Sinn Féin is going to basically scupper this Bill tonight. We have to put pressure on it to change tack.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-05-13/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-14T01:01:03+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-05-13