Mr. Peter Thompson:

It is certainly feasible that some women would undergo a termination of pregnancy on those grounds but if one were to rely on a 20-week scan, then a large proportion of women would not do so. For a certain number of women who get a diagnosis at 20 weeks, there would be a rush to make a decision in the next two weeks. The committee should bear in mind that if Ireland were to go down a similar path to the United Kingdom, parents would probably not get a confirmatory discussion until another week after the scan, leaving them feeling that if they do not make a decision within the next week, they may not get the opportunity to make a decision at all. It is for the committee to decide whether that might force women one way or the other.