Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their presentations. Today again validates the process we are going through. We are here to listen to facts and evidence. I do not think anyone can question that we are receiving an awful lot of good information, hard evidence and facts here today. I welcome that. Frankly, all my questions have been answered apart from one, which I will highlight. With regard to the sixth slide of Dr. Sedgh's presentation, some people will find it fascinating, although I was not surprised, that in the countries where abortion is prohibited, 37 out of 1,000 women have abortions while in the countries where abortion is available on request, that number is 34. In other words, there is a lower level of abortion where it is legally available. That might come as a surprise to some members of the committee. I know Dr. Sedgh has touched on this point already, but will she elucidate why abortion rates are lower in countries where it is available as against countries where it is prohibited?