Jim Walsh (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

My first question is for Bishop Jones and Fr. Tim Bartlett. Their position is that we should progress the non-statutory but desirable guidelines that clarify current practice with the two-patient model. If it were possible to construct legislation which would underpin current medical practice in that area, without including suicide, how would they feel about that?

My second question is for Archbishop Jackson. He talked about the 1861 Act. Has he taken into account the presumption within mens rea for indictable offences and the defence whereby people are acting in good faith, which would apply to both mother and doctor? Does he believe there should be no sanctions for illegal abortions or does he think the level of sanction in the 1861 Act should be lower? With regard to the number of women going to England, undoubtedly women go there in crisis. A Dublin doctor told me recently about a woman who is going for her fifth or sixth abortion.

My final question is to Miss Good. She recommends that we should provide for abortion in cases in which there is a risk of grave injury to the physical or mental health of the mother. They are the grounds that apply at present in Britain, a country where there have been 6.4 million abortions, or 200,000 per year. Lord Steel has commented on that. Does she not agree that this has resulted in a situation in which approximately one out of five pregnancies end in abortion? That is an unacceptable level. There is a 20% chance of a baby being aborted.