Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 8 January 2013

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children

Implementation of Government Decision Following Expert Group Report into Matters Relating to A, B and C v. Ireland

4:30 pm

Photo of John CrownJohn Crown (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I have a series of short questions for Professor Greene, for the benefit of my colleagues who do not have a background in interpretation of medical and epidemiological statistics. Will he elucidate the difficulties which occur in attempting to draw conclusions statistically when one is dealing with such small numbers? Several statements have appeared in the lay media suggesting that one could define a cause and effect relationship between the availability or non-availability of abortion services in a country and its maternal mortality rates. I would be troubled by that supposition because maternal mortality is such an extraordinarily rare event that it is very hard to make any kind of calls and statements with regard to other potentially confounding factors. It has been frequently suggested that not only is this one of the safest countries in the world from the point of view of maternal mortality but that it is number one. It has been suggested that this is somehow because we do not have legalised abortion.

Could my colleagues from the institute answer a question I have asked repeatedly of professional representatives today - are they aware of any case in the history of this State where a woman died needlessly as a result of the legal vacuum surrounding abortion? I am not trying to stray into individual cases or to ask for editorialisation about contemporary cases. Has it happened in the past 30 years, since the issue came onto the constitutional horizon? Will the institute be recommending that there be a specific and relatively liberal regime for making emergency decisions with respect to the need for abortion when the mother's life is in danger?

The role of the Irish Family Planning Association in giving post-abortion counselling has become an issue-----

Comments

No comments

Log in or join to post a public comment.