Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the witnesses and thank them for their enlightened contributions. If legislation is introduced for termination of pregnancy in line with the X case, including where the risk to the mother's life comes from her own threat of suicide, will it increase the number of abortions or change medical practice in any way?

Abortion has never been considered an appropriate treatment for suicide ideation and has never been carried out by doctors in Ireland on this basis. Do the witnesses think obstetric or gynaecological professionals would be happy to carry out terminations which are prescribed by psychiatrists?

A symposium on maternal health care held in Dublin in 2012 concluded that abortion is never medically necessary to save the life of a mother. Is that conclusion incorrect?