Dr. Deirdre Duffy:

If the Deputy would like me to clarify, if a termination has been unsuccessful, but the person has taken medications, teratogenic means the medications will have had an effect on the health of the foetus. Effectively, a clinician could have prescribed, in accordance with the legislation as it stands, a medicine that could harm the foetus, and then later in pregnancy somebody finds that the termination has not been successful, they are still pregnant and now there is foetal harm of unknown consequence. Through this rigid gestational limit, a question is created over whether somebody can complete as they pursued or if they have to continue having taken a harmful medication.