| The need to regulate assisted human reproduction |
| Tuesday, 06 July 1999 | |
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Seconding the 2nd stage of Senator Mary Henry's Regulation of Assisted Human Reproduction Bill, 1999 on 7 July 1999, I said: I have much pleasure in seconding Senator Henry's Bill. I commend her on her initiative to publish the Bill and to introduce it in this House. The gap now open for predators on human emotions is appalling. When couples who want a baby have a problem conceiving, it is a matter of utmost importance to them. This may becomes the most important issue in their lives. Their emotions are engaged at the highest level at that stage. In such a state, they make ready victims for those prepared to prey on their human emotions for their economic gain. We have all heard stories of couples paying vast amounts of money to find a solution to this problem.This is similar in many ways to adoption. The same heartfelt wish for a child and the same possibility of being exploited for monetary gain is involved in both cases. This is one of the reasons we have carefully regulated adoption for many years. We are dealing with vulnerable victims, whether the adoptive parents, the natural parents or the adopted child. The State regulates adoption very tightly to protect these people from being exploited. If for no other reason this is why assisted reproduction must be regulated. We must have regulation quickly because this is too important a field to be left open to cowboys. We take that risk every day we allow an absence of regulation to continue. We are dealing with present and futurerisks which are very real. The present risk arises because assisted human reproduction is a fact. It is not a futuristic dream of what technology might do at some point, rather it is a living practical reality here and now. It is, therefore, an option available to childless couples in this country. One does not have to go to England for this treatment. It is available in Ireland but is totally unregulated by the State. The future risk arises from the variety of possibilities which technology may create before long. Cloning is just one of these. We were all shocked when the first animal cloning took place and Dolly the sheep appeared. Few people realised that technology had advanced so far. Human cloning is very likely to happen in the same way long before any of us expect it. Human cloning could take place and is more likely to take place in Ireland - it would be legal because no legal framework is in place to outlaw or prevent it. Imagine our shame if the first human cloning took place in Ireland. It is hardly scaremongering to say that could happen. If people want to carry out human cloning, they are likely to do it in a country which has no controls over such matters. The number of such countries is dwindling rapidly and if they want to carry out these horrific experiments they will go to a country with no regulation. The fewer countries which remain unregulated, the greater the attraction of those remaining. We increase the risk every day we fail to take action. That is the reason I hope the Minister will respond rapidly to this. To be in favour of regulating assisted reproduction is quite separate from approving of it. Some people believe it is morally wrong and should not be permitted under any circumstances. I am sure some Members are of that view. However, if one is against it one should be in favour of the State regulating it and having legislation on it. Without any regulation, one is consenting to the unbridled use of the technique in any circumstances and the unlimited exploitation of vulnerable people who find themselves childless. I feel strongly there is a gap which must be filled quickly. The question is how do we move forward. The best way forward is for the Government - and I hope the Minister will do so today - to adopt this Bill and carry it forward through the Oireachtas in its own time. The Bill is very simple, although I know a lot of work went into it. It can be adapted in committee as the Government's advisers think appropriate. Senator Henry has provided the Government with a shell which it can fill as it likes. If it does not agree with any aspect of the proposed Bill, it can table amendments to it. The great advantage of accepting Senator Henry's Bill is that it offers a saving in time. The Government can accept this Bill, spend the summer working on it and bring it back to this House for Committee Stage at the beginning of the next session, which I assume will be early October. That would mean the Bill could be law before Christmas. That would hardly be the case if the Government was to start from scratch. I wish to impress on the Government the urgency of this matter. Senator Henry published this Bill in February, four and a half months ago. There was widespread comment at the time, acknowledging the urgency of the issue, yet in the intervening period there has not been a peep from the Government regarding its intentions. Time is of the essence. This cannot be put on the back burner and let simmer from one election to another because the Government does not wish to grasp the issues involved. If we do not grasp the issue, it may rise up and grasp us instead. Let us avoid that possibility by acting now. I commend this Bill to the House and I urge the Government to signify its adoption of it. It would be of great benefit to those people who otherwise might fall prey to the whims of predators. |
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