Dr. Abigail Aiken:

In terms of decriminalisation, there is no evidence at present that women in Northern Ireland, where there have been some prosecutions, have decided that they will travel instead because so often travel is out of their reach. Although it is an option that risks prosecution, it is the option. If the committee did not deal with decriminalisation one of the problems is the lengths to which women for whom travel or even abortion pills might be out of reach will resort to end their pregnancy. Those things are also covered under criminal law. If the committee did not take that into account its members would still have to worry about those people who end up doing things that are blatantly unsafe because they are not able to access any other kinds of services.

On the contraceptive question, again, if one looks at the co-pays that women are having to pay to keep contraception going between the approximate ages of 15 and 45 when they are potentially able to get pregnant, the cost adds up to quite a lot of money and if trying to break down the barriers to contraception is within the ancillary recommendations that would be a very sensible thing to do.