Dr. Meabh Ní Bhuinneáin:

I concur on conscientious objectors. Not all termination services will occur in the hospital sector. In time if abortion is liberalised in Ireland, early first trimester termination with medical management will occur in the community. Therefore the access to practitioners is possibly more streamlined in many areas around the country. If there are clusters of conscientious objectors that limit the geographical access for women and girls to services, the Medical Council is very clear at the moment - it will revise again in response to legislation - that the duty of care continues. Trying to arrange a transfer and access is part of that duty of care. A conscientious objector must have a very sincere belief in the ethical dilemma and be conflicted with it. It is not just a convenient opt-out by the professional. The testing of conscientious objection may become part of the assessment of competence and become a training issue.

The Deputy said that we have abortion; it is in the UK. It is not the perception of all women. Some women may get a late diagnosis of foetal anomaly at 22 or 23 weeks. The timeline to make a decision to seek support, to mobilise resources and to self-refer to the UK does not allow them to complete that in two or three weeks. We are familiar with women who have continued pregnancy even though that was not their desired option. We need to be careful that we do not allow that to become a commonly used phrase. Referring to my previous comment, we cannot underestimate the morbidity that we are not measuring at the moment.