Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I thank Dr. Thompson and I found his contribution very interesting. Following up on his last point, I think he has touched on something very important with regard to how we define what is fatal. Dr. Thompson is absolutely correct - once we are born we are all fatal. To try to put legislative structures on words and definitions can, as Dr. Thompson has recounted from his own experience, take a very long time. There was a case in Britain some time ago - I cannot remember the name - in which debate and discussion of legislative changes in the High Court resulted in a long period of suffering for a woman and her child. I would like to say openly to everybody here that we have to be careful about the words we use when we are advising on the kind of legislation we want and we have to be mindful of some of the matters that Dr. Thompson has pointed out. He has pointed out some very serious issues that we have to grapple with here. One that struck me was the fact that some women present late with crisis pregnancies involving severe foetal disability because of poorer socioeconomic conditions. We have to be very mindful of such cases because, in looking at how we structure some kind of legislation, we have to remember that the Citizens' Assembly very passionately wanted it added to the discourse that socioeconomic factors play a major role in forming the outcome of their discussions.

I would like to pick up on a number of points, some of them in the same vein as Deputy O'Connell's questions about foeticide. I understand that an injection goes straight into the heart and stops it beating. This injection is lethal - it paralyses the foetus and kills it. Is there evidence, however, that such an injection causes pain? I ask Dr. Thompson to expand on the discussion of pain because it is often used in a very emotive way to argue against the treatment of pregnancy in this way. I would also like Dr. Thompson to expand an another important point. Women often look for options after they have had a scan at 20 weeks and they might need a follow-up scan very quickly within five days. This is often not available to them in Ireland, however, and that puts them at a big disadvantage.

Although they may go to Britain and have that, they need the follow-up care, discussion and conversation, to have the important emotional, physical and medical understanding of everything they are going through. Would Mr. Thompson agree that because they are forced out of Ireland and cannot get that care at home, where they are surrounded by family and other supports, they are particularly disadvantaged? Those who talk about cruelty to a foetus or an unborn child often use the word "baby" but we have to also think about the cruelty to the woman who is being denied access to this kind of reproductive health. I would like Mr. Thompson to comment on those points.