Dr. Jacqueline Montwill:

It cannot be guaranteed in any element of medicine. There is one other matter, however. The criteria that the Government has put into this legislation are not true criteria to assess suicidality. They are pretend criteria that it has made up to assess eligibility for abortion, but no such criteria exist. We cannot tell who will commit suicide, but we can say to every one of our patients that we will treat them as if they are going to commit suicide and we will make it as safe as possible for them.

It was stated that I said there were no medical criteria for assessing crisis pregnancy. I am pretty sure I did not say that. If I did then I must have been nervous. No; there is no question of anybody not getting the proper assessment, and that is the issue here. The problem is that the discussion is now moving from women with mental illness to women with no mental disorder. I have a little bit of an issue here, because I wonder at what point a woman will be completely over her crisis, will be completely adjusted and will have no mental disorder. My colleagues described that scenario earlier this morning, and I can see the scenario in front of me. It is a woman who comes in and says, "Doctor, I have an unwanted pregnancy. I have a right under this law to an abortion and I am telling you now that I am going to kill myself." We say, "We will treat you anyway, but we are going to put you through the pathway to see the panels." We ask the patient if she will see our psychologist, if she will give us the full background, and if we can talk to her partner or family. She says, "No, I don't want any of that. I just want the abortion. I am telling you now I am suicidal." In those circumstances we will continue to offer treatments, but the woman will now go through into this process. In law there is no psychiatrist on the panel - as we said, we cannot guarantee anything - who will be able to say the woman will not commit suicide, so it is a direct pathway. What is happening, though, for that woman in crisis? Why will she not allow the assessment? What are the pressures being put on her? It would not be out of the range of possibility that a partner has urged the woman to go in there and tell us she is suicidal. That is my point. She is not getting a proper assessment.