Wallace reads letter from woman who ended longed-for pregnancy
Independent TD Mick Wallace
Opposition TDs are calling on the Government to implement the X-Case ruling.
A debate on the Socialist Party's Private Members' Bill continues in the Dáil this morning. It calls for limited access to abortion in Ireland.
It comes 20 years after a Supreme Court judge ruled a woman has a right to access an abortion in Ireland if there is a "real and substantial risk" to her life, including suicide.
Health Minister James Reilly said last night that Ireland is committed to making sure the judgement in the X-case is given effect, but he said the Government would not be accepting the motion put forward by the Socialist Party.
An emotional Independent TD Mick Wallace read to the Dáil an email from a woman who terminated her pregnancy in Britain, because her baby had a terminal illness.
The email read: "I felt I could not tell most people the truth in case I was judged…I felt wrong and dirty for travelling abroad... I felt like I was 'getting rid' of my baby.
"(My baby) was so much longed for, and loved. Even though I never met her, I had her life planned from day one. I had hopes and dreams for her. To cope with all that being snatched away from me was difficult enough, without my own health system turning their back on me."
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