Professor Richard Greene:

I wish to comment, as a practising obstetrician, in response to Deputy Ó Caoláin who asked about the 1861 Act. I am not aware of cases, but, as a practising obstetrician, I am very aware of the difficulty that this causes for us on a regular basis. It is not uncommon for people working in the unit to have concerns, for example, about the constitutional equal right to life of the child. This comes up as a discussion point when one is making these very difficult decisions, which is why we need legal clarity on the issue. The other point is that it is very easy to make a decision if a mother is going to die because of excess bleeding or blood pressure to deliver her baby immediately. It is not very easy to do so where there is a threat to the life, but it could be some weeks or months down the road.