Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank both of the witnesses for coming in. We appreciate how busy they are and we are very grateful for their time and expertise in this matter because we are politicians and they are the experts. It has been very informative so far. Professor Malone referred to the need to provide complete health care services for women. For the avoidance of any doubt, and I want to keep this brief, that includes the provision of access to abortion and the after-care that goes with it. I am not trying to put words into Professor Malone's mouth, but I want to clear that up first.

Foetal anomaly scanning is very hit and miss, and this is something I have spoken about on numerous occasions. Dr. Mahony is nodding. It is unfortunate that a woman may find out very late in her pregnancy that the foetus has a fatal or lethal anomaly. Does having to travel on top of this add to the complications? Clearly, it will increase the stress, but does it add to the complications? Were the woman able to access abortion services here in Ireland it would considerably decrease the stress and, as Professor Malone outlined, the potential for physical harm, as happened in one very unfortunate case.

My final question relates to a reference in Professor Malone's evidence to post-termination autopsy and genetic testing. Will he speak to us briefly about how important this is and what we can potentially learn from it? Is that information completely unavailable because the procedure is carried out in another jurisdiction or is some of it available? I ask Professor Malone to tease out how it works.