Terence Flanagan (Dublin North East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I have three brief questions and would appreciate it were the panel to answer them, because I posed other questions in previous sessions that did not appear to be answered. In light of the X case judgment that a termination of pregnancy is the only means of averting the risk to the life of the mother, does it follow that abortion becomes the only means available if the woman simply refuses all alternatives? Second, where a woman who is suicidal presents to the witnesses as treating psychiatrists and she refuses whatever treatments they offer, as she is entitled to do, at that point they will certify that a termination is the appropriate treatment, despite the fact there is no evidence that a termination will have any beneficial effect for that woman in a suicidal crisis. Is it not fair to state that the law's operation, as the witnesses envisage it, will be inherently open to abuse as it will rely primarily on the will of the pregnant woman?

Third, how accurate do the witnesses expect to be in determining whether someone is actually suicidal and the only treatment is abortion? Were we to legislate on suicide as grounds for abortion, are we not legislating for a condition that has an incidence rate of one per 500,000 of population, as per Dr. Anthony McCarthy, with a positive predictive value of 3%, as per Professor Casey? Moreover, findings published in the American Journal of Psychiatry in 1997, state that as a treatment, abortion is not effective.

The Finnish study which looked at all the registers between 1987 and 1994 found no cases of suicide in pregnancy but a threefold increase in the rate of suicide after abortion. Could the panel comment on whether abortion could make a woman suicidal? Recent media reports on the Miss C case indicated she had made further suicide attempts post-abortion.