Dr. Anthony McCarthy:

I will reply first to Deputy McConnell's question about the Ferguson report. It is a pretty good study but it has major limitations. As I highlighted, almost every study has serious limitations. That is why the meta-analysis or systematic review done by putting everything together came out with the conclusions. The conclusion of that study and the first part of what Senator Mullen said is that abortion is not good for women's mental health - but neither pregnancy nor marriage are good for women's mental health either, as we know. We have to know these things.

I heard the same interview with Dr. Ferguson on "Morning Ireland" on RTÉ Radio 1 when he said that his study was being selectively quoted. There was nothing actually that I could hear from what Senator Mullen said that he was selectively misquoting. Dr. Ferguson said we should not take too much out of the study. He said there were major doubts and gaps.

In my opening statement I referred to the notion of control groups. This is the single biggest flaw. I am unsure how many of the scientists here do research. Anyway, what do we mean by control groups? I was trying to think of an analogy. Let us suppose I did a study on people who get lung cancer and I examined whether they got stressed and whether that caused the lung cancer. Let us suppose I asked all of them whether they got stressed before they got lung cancer. I would find that 80% said they were stressed before they got lung cancer. We might think in consequence that stress equals lung cancer. However, if we have not compared those who smoke to those who do not smoke, we completely miss the key fact. Many of these studies are not looking at comparing only women with unplanned pregnancy or women who have been pressurised to have a termination. In other words, it is not comparing the key or important variables at all. It is altogether selective. It does not even examine the gestation of the pregnancy. Many other factors are involved that are missed in the vast majority of studies. Dr. Ferguson was honest. He pleaded for people not to quote him suggesting the conclusions were absolute fact. He was being misquoted. The actual words Senator Mullen used today are in his study, but there are major flaws to it.

Deputy McConnell asked about a particular case. Obviously, I cannot talk about specific cases, but a woman cannot have a termination of pregnancy past 24 weeks. There is a responsibility for all doctors to consider the health of the foetus. Of the few cases that have arisen, I am aware of one case where a woman was actively seeking a termination and was detained. Actually, she could not have a termination anyway, because she was past that term.

We only detain a woman if she has lost her capacity or if she has a mental illness. I was not involved in that case but, as far as I understand it, if the woman did not have a mental illness, then it was absolutely wrong to detain her. First, I have no doubt that those involved in the circumstances almost certainly do not work in this area. Second, they were highly anxious. If a woman is hitting her stomach with her hands, literally pounding into her stomach, and saying that she wants a termination of pregnancy, then people will sometimes not be able to stand back. They may panic and take the view that they must do something and then decide to use the Mental Health Act. Psychiatry has a dangerous history in that regard, one I am acutely aware of. Anyway, that is a major error. If a woman does not have a psychiatric illness – this girl clearly did not and that is why the court lifted the order shortly afterwards - then it was a major mistake to detain her in the first place.