Jim Walsh (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Yesterday we had a good consensus from the medical experts that current medical practice was very good if only it could be statutorily underpinned. The contentious issue is that of suicide. Despite what the delegates opposite are saying, the clear evidence yesterday from the professionals in the field was that it was very difficult to predict the outcome for a patient who presented with suicidal ideation. On this matter we have had the views of a psychiatrist on both the pro-life and pro-choice advocacy sides during the period of all of the debates. One of the psychiatrist witnesses said in evidence yesterday that if a woman presented claiming to be suicidal, she would believe her. We also heard evidence that a survey carried out in Britain showed that 97% of suicide predictions were false positives. The architect of abortion in Britain, Lord David Steel, recently said:

It would seem the mistake being made in Ireland is to try to define the circumstances in which each abortion may be carried out and that is a hopeless road to travel down. I never envisaged there would be so many abortions [in Britain].

In fact, there were 6.4 million abortions in Britain between 1986 and 2011, only 150 of which took place to save the life of the mother. These are British Government figures.

Ms Schweppe referred to the use of language. The fact, however, is that the European Court of Human Rights regularly uses the word "mother" as a synonym for "pregnant woman" and the term "her child" for "foetus". I ask her to reflect on this.

In regard to foetal abnormalities, we have had presentations from people who found themselves in this situation and I understand the issues that arise. However, will the delegates, particularly Dr. Mills, clarify whether they are seeking, in the case of non-viable foetuses, to have abortions permitted up to 20 to 24 weeks? Am I right or wrong in assuming that is the position?