Dr. Anthony McCarthy:

Of course. I was making a flippant comment. When we look at what is good for people in their lives - some are looking into it - we note that pregnancy in general is not good for women's mental health. Termination is not good for women's mental health, but it is no worse and no better than pregnancy. I was flippantly adding that if we were to have women assessed for their capacity before consenting to decisions in their lives, be it to have a termination, get pregnant in the first place or even get married, all of which have negative consequences for them, the psychiatrists would be very busy. The research does show that the mental health of women in general - not in the case of the Deputy, obviously - is best when they are single and worst when they are married. Men's mental health is best if they are married and worst if they are single. That is the research evidence.