Ms Marie O'Shea:

We have legislation here that allows for early termination of pregnancy where the pregnancy does not exceed 12 weeks. The complication comes where people continue to be pregnant having availed of the service within the 12 weeks and then there is the risk of defects to the foetus, such as limb defects, because of the teratogenic nature of the medication. There are other cases where people just did not get in in time. That particular category of person had a statutory right to termination before the pregnancy exceeded 12 weeks. Sometimes they did not get in because the health system could not accommodate it or because of other factors. In those circumstances, the Act can operate very unfairly against that category of people. It is really for the Oireachtas, to bat it back to you, to say what should be put in. It could say to extend that period by two weeks to bring it to a 14-week period for those classes of people, or it could say to leave it to the discretion of the healthcare professionals. Maybe this requires another collective leadership consultation process with healthcare professionals to adduce that.

If someone is continuing a pregnancy where there is potential for limb defects and other defects having taken teratogenic medication, that is a pretty awful position to be in. There would certainly be a human rights violation there in terms of cruelty. If someone has not been able to access the service because the State has not been able to put the services in place for them, then where does that leave them? That person has effectively been denied their right to a termination of pregnancy and that leaves the State in a very vulnerable position. I think it has to be extended in certain circumstances if reviewing the operation of this particular legislation but, to be honest, I would not have the temerity to say to these Houses what they should put in place. It has to be deliberated on.