Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I have in mind a situation where there is currently very little support for a pregnant girl who may feel alone, isolated and not know what to do. The only thing she can think of is to go abroad for a termination, as has historically been the case. Such a woman may not be in a good mental position at the time and going abroad for a termination may not be in her best interests. How does one identify such patients? They may not attend a GP or other services. I ask the witnesses to address the issues of advertising, health education or any other measure on which we can rely in that regard. There have been some very tragic incidents in the past 20 or 30 years. One incident in particular comes to mind, whereby the person was alone with no help from any quarter and was obviously forlorn and in a very bad situation.