Dr. Brendan O'Shea:

It is difficult to objectively quantify it but we believe this is a feature of the care environment. We are concerned about this and we believe our concern is shared by our colleagues in the HSE crisis pregnancy agency. The Deputy asked an excellent question about referral. We have a classic Irish solution to an Irish problem. When my parents were in practice it was all about the oral contraceptive pill, which we were allowed to prescribe for cycle regulation. If a woman had the slightest smidgen of an irregular cycle she was all right. Later on we were allowed to make condoms available to people as long as they were married. Now we can talk about termination but we are not allowed to make a referral. From a medical perspective, there is objective evidence that abortion is a relatively safe medical procedure but the experience to which we subject women who travel for abortion is something else and it is traumatic to consider any sister, mother or daughter travelling to a UK abortion clinic in these circumstances. They are sick with the symptoms of early pregnancy and they feel uncertainty about what they are embarking on, not to mention the cost, etc. Many of us believe it makes far more sense for referrals to be done in a medical fashion, or for other solutions to be examined.