Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Monday, 20 May 2013

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children

Heads of Protection of Life during Pregnancy Bill 2013: Public Hearings (Resumed)

4:20 pm

Photo of Fidelma Healy EamesFidelma Healy Eames (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As a country we have the luxury and the benefit of looking at the evidence in so many other countries. We have the benefit of being compassionate here. While some say we have done the wrong thing by waiting so long, I believe we have done the right thing. We are in the top five in maternal health care in the developed world.

This question is to each of the psychiatrists. Given the difficulty of predicting suicide with accuracy, how many unborn babies' lives do we have to take to save possibly one in 500,000 lives, especially when there could have been a more appropriate treatment for the pregnant woman?

I understand Professor Malone is a leading world expert in suicide. Is he gone?

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