Dr. Catherine Conlon:

As regards the effect of the criminal sanctions in the legislation from the service user perspective, the people we spoke to who were seeking care certainly could discern the chilling effect of the criminalisation, particularly as regards termination in cases of fatal foetal anomaly. As regards a legislative architecture underpinning abortion in our healthcare services, where it is having that impact of interfering with the relationship between the doctor and the person seeking care under very stressful circumstances, that, from our perspective, in terms of the service user, certainly needs to be looked at.