Table 1 Examples of features of experiential thinking in the studied abortion debate

Personal testimonial

Abortion solves nothing. I know a number of women who have had abortions and deeply regretted it. I genuinely do not know any woman who has had a baby and regretted it.

[57]

Testimonial of others

Most of the women and health professionals Amnesty spoke to, said that a woman’s rights inevitably come second. Lupe, a woman who was forced to carry a dead foetus for 2 months, told us: “When a woman gets pregnant in Ireland, she loses her human rights.”

[58]

Metaphor

Amnesty [International] swallowed a camel – but strained at a gnat!

[59]

Confirmation bias

Three years ago, on the first occasion on which I introduced legislation to deal with some of the issues involved, I received a letter from a Church of Ireland bishop in Tipperary in which he congratulated me on taking a stand and indicated that he was sick of the systemic spinelessness of the political establishment. What he wrote came back to me as I listened to the contributions to this debate and it sums up where we stand. Not a single credible argument against the Bill has been put forward.

[60]

We know that post-abortive stress syndrome is a significant threat to women’s mental health.

[61]

I, for my part, am disappointed with this report of the committee majority and I do marvel at these justifications, because we know that in almost all other countries in western Europe, except Sweden and Finland, this legislation [conscientious objection regarding the abortion procedure] works. It simply works.

[62]

Stereotyping/Generalization

I am struck by a terrible irony that Mrs. Halappanavar and her husband probably came to Ireland for a better life than they would have had in India. Moreover, they came to a country with very fine medical facilities and in which pregnant women are very well looked after. They came from a country where women are not treated in an equitable way, in which there are forced child brides and in which the caste system leads to girls and women being treated appallingly. Consequently, it is very sad that Mrs. Halappanavar lost her life here, as is the reason.

[63]

But the greatest blame lies in these social abortions. There is no medical or any other reason, something just went askew, and then after one mistake, you make an even bigger one.

[64]

Abortion is not a medical treatment; it is a social reaction to a culture which says that says sexual freedom is all and must be protected to the utmost, up to and including abortion.

[65]

Magical/Religious thinking

Human life is sacred, it must be protected under all circumstances.

[66]

Children are a gift from God. You should treat them accordingly.

[67]

Because God created man and set the womb of the woman as the place for the birth of life, it is clear that if a tiny human being is killed through abortion, it will have a harmful effect on the woman who committed abortion as well as on her body.

[68]