Ms Caroline Simons:

On the questions, I will deal with two together. We were asked whether we are lobbying politicians.

We are not here to lobby politicians. We are here to answer questions to the best of our ability. I cannot help on the question of EWTN.

Senator Bradford's question on the insult to women has been dealt with by Dr. Kiely and I agree with her. It is not for no reason that Senator Bacik wants suicide included because it is not possible to legislate for the X case without it. The testimony members have heard over recent days has been conclusive. There is no argument that abortion is the only treatment for suicidality. That being the case, why would one want to legislate to do something which would have no improving effect and has been seen to harm women? It does not make sense.

In regard to Senator Healy Eames's question, we do not have to legislate for suicide on foot of the decision of the European Court of Human Rights in A, B and C v.Ireland. That court recognised that we may make our own policies on abortion and the right to life. Once we have made the law, we have to ensure our citizens can understand it and avail of it. In regard to whether we can act through guidelines, the court observed that medical guidelines currently do not offer precision regarding the criteria by which a doctor is to assess risk. That does not mean they cannot do so, however, and we have examples of non-statutory guidelines issued on clinical decision making as recently as this year. The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in the UK recognised that the biggest killer of pregnant women by 2008 was sepsis in pregnancy. They addressed that problem in April 2012 by issuing a set of guidelines for recognising and managing sepsis in pregnancy. The Irish Institute of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists responded similarly in 2012 in regard to managing miscarriage in the first trimester. It is entirely possible to do this and there are many examples of where guidelines have been introduced.