Mr. Tom O'Malley:

That is another one. I mentioned it very briefly in my paper. It is something again on which the legislation would have to address as to in what circumstances or, indeed, in any circumstances, it might be permitted to mention in the course of the criminal trial that an abortion had taken place. In a criminal trial, under the Constitution, the first and foremost consideration is fairness to the accused. Article 38 of the Constitution says that nobody charged with a criminal offence shall be tried other than "in due course of law". The primary concern of a criminal trial, under our Constitution, is to provide fairness to the accused. Other people have rights too but the accused is front and centre. Therefore, the legislation would have to be drawn up in such a way that it did not jeopardise the person's right to a fair trial by, for example, introducing information that could be unduly prejudicial to the accused. It is another factor that would have to be taken into account if this kind of legislation were being introduced.