Rónán Mullen (Independent) | Oireachtas source

We are shot for time. Counselling is one thing. Given that there is at least one life at stake, and potentially two, the gravity involved, the culture of informed consent which applies in other areas of medicine and the duty of care involved, surely it is not excessive to expect a basic investigation to see what type of person is before one?

I refer to a study from Professor Ferguson. The ground has moved. In 1994, the Royal College of Psychiatrists found that the risk to psychological health from termination of pregnancy in the first trimester was much less than the risks associated with proceeding with a pregnancy which is clearly harming the mother's mental health. Professor Ferguson described a big shift from that ground of seeing potential benefits to a situation where nobody is now talking about the mental health benefits of abortion. Rather, it is case equal. The only question is whether it causes mental health problems in certain cases. He is very cautious in his studies. In 2008, he noted that the specific issue of whether induced abortion has harmful effects on women's mental health remains to be fully resolved. There is a movement away from seeing any kind of benefit on mental health grounds.

Dr. Ruth Fletcher argued that the concept of health should be used to encompass situations like the claim for abortion on the grounds of foetal anomaly or cases of rape, and that health could be used as a grounds to avoid legal stigmatisation. She stated such circumstances could contribute to a risk to health. I presume she was talking about mental health.

The work of Professor Ferguson, which has analysed other work, seems to suggest that one does not go there on mental health grounds. Would Dr. McCarthy agree?