DAIL REPORT: The Taoiseach defended the abortion referendum in the face of renewed Opposition criticism.
Mr Ahern said he had promised, some years ago, that he would hold a referendum, if he were in government. "I had come to that conclusion in the wake of the Supreme Court judgment."
He was accused by the Fine Gael leader, Mr Michael Noonan, of being "alarmist and scaremongering" in his assertion that the floodgates to abortion on demand would open if the referendum was not passed.
"Could I put it to the Taoiseach the real position is: if the referendum is rejected by the Irish people, the status quo will prevail and there will be no change.
"The status quo is that since the X case first came to public attention 10 years ago, there was no other case of a pregnancy being terminated on the grounds that a woman was suicidal. The only similar case was the C case, where a young girl, in the care of the State, was allowed travel to the UK with her expenses paid by the appropriate health board." He added that the Minister for Health, Mr Martin, had already confirmed, "in a bit of outstanding hypocrisy", that the State would continue to pay for the travel and other expenses of under-age girls becoming pregnant as a result of rape or incest if they were in the care of the State.
The Labour leader, Mr Ruairí Quinn, asked why the Taoiseach was persisting in his efforts to remove the legal protection the Supreme Court gave to young women, such as the woman in the X case, in the referendum.
Mr Ahern denied he had used the term "floodgates". For the first time ever, the Government proposed giving statutory protection to the lives of pregnant women, he said. "We propose giving statutory protection to current medical practice in this area. We want to create a situation in which no woman need fear if she develops a life-threatening condition in pregnancy."
