Dr. Catherine Conlon:

We have a model. After the X case, the Department of Health commissioned a piece of research called the women and pregnancy study. I was a member of the research team and Dr. Evelyn Mahon from Trinity College was the principal investigator. In this research, we interviewed people who had travelled from Ireland to Britain and who had opted for an abortion. We went into eight antenatal clinics in Ireland. We spoke to people receiving antenatal care about their pathway to that care. At the time, there were still some institutional homes for people seeking adoption. We spoke with people in Bessborough who had chosen adoption and to people who had chosen adoption through other routes. There is a model there for research about all the different pathways to different options around pregnancy outcomes. If the Department of Health wanted to replicate the study, it is a very good, well reviewed and well regarded model of research.

To say it was only homing in on the individuals who attended for one consultation considering abortion and then opted out is unethical, however. The much more holistic approach that was taken by the women and pregnancy study published in 1998 by the Department of Health took might be a model that we-----