Ms Marie O'Shea:

I totally understand the challenge for legislators. I have very close friends who, I do not know why, since the commencement of this review have come to me and said they voted against it, expecting some sort of reaction from me. Of course there are always going to be divisive attitudes towards termination of pregnancy. That is a fact of life. We are talking about amending section 12 and people are asking if it is an effort to extend it beyond the 12 weeks by stealth almost. The proposed amendments are really trying to accommodate people who present later in pregnancy for whatever reason. There are those who have presented within that 12-week timeframe but the services cannot be put in place to deliver the care they need. There are also people who, having taken mifepristone earlier in the pregnancy, have had a failed termination of pregnancy. It is a teratogenic drug; I think there are 35 known limb defects that are associated with teratogenic medication. They may present either towards the very end or after that 12-week period. There is a question as to whether it is ethical to enable that person to continue their pregnancy. I would argue it is probably unethical to say that they have to continue a pregnancy in those circumstances.