Dr. John Monaghan:

She might take the question. Deputy Flanagan asked if every effort would be made to look after a child born after a termination. That seems to be the plan, according to what is written. I do not know any doctor who would not make every effort. The question arises, in particular in the psychiatric area, where the patient does not want the child to be born alive. That is why I suggested earlier that it should never be the situation that the child is directly killed in the uterus at any stage of gestation. It would not be unknown for babies to be born supposedly at 17 weeks but to be found to be several weeks further on, particularly in the circumstances of psychiatric illness, uncertain dates and so on. I would strongly advocate that there should be no possibility that a child would be eliminated before it was born. At 23 weeks, certainly if a child was going to be born because of serious maternal illness or because of a foetal reason, it would be transferred to a large Dublin hospital, or to Cork or Galway.

Senator Bradford asked about the suggestion that no change is being made. I think there is a very significant change in the proposed legislation. For the first time, deliberate abortion, as opposed to forced abortion, will be available in this country. I refer to termination of pregnancy in a formal legal sense, rather than in dealing with medical emergencies. It remains to be seen what effect this will have. I think it is very difficult to predict. As I said before, I am very concerned about the ability to control the psychiatric aspect of it.