"We've woken up to a country with a big heart": Doherty

The Meath East TD and Minister for Social Protection, Regina Doherty, this morning welcomed the size of the mandate given to politicians to pass legislation to deal with safely regulating terminations of pregnancy, following the indicative landslide 'Yes' vote to repeal the Eighth Amendment.
She said that the country had shown it had a big heart, and while 30 per cent of the voters said no for highly held and personal reasons, and we had moved to say we recognise the reality that women were travelling abroad, the focus must now be on reducing the need for abortions and doing everything possible as legislators to reduce crisis pregnancies.
Speaking on RTE's Morning Ireland from the Ashbourne Count Centre, Ms Doherty said that the long conversation that was held over the last two years, from the Citizens' Assembly setting out the tone, and people sharing their stories through the Assembly, the Oireachtas Committee, and through radio, TV,  newspaper and social media, made people realise what we had been ignoring for years, and possibly stereotyping and shaming.
Couples would not now be taken away from their families and doctors, and people who had to make such decisions in the past  would be now able to sit down and talk with their own doctors and explore options they couldn't before.
Regarding the legislation, she said the heads of bill have been published, and the Dail would now move now to draft legislation and get it published as soon as possible, with a very clear and resounding mandate from Irish people who want to see care and compassion in the delivery the service.
“We voted in 1992 to allow women go to the UK – it's time to bring them home,” she said. “For a small number of women, pregnancy can be a crisis, and we weren't looking after those women – now we are,” she added.