Ms Liz McDermott:

I think we should be supportive of them. However, the reality is they are pregnant with a very sick baby. They have to be supported in some way. Even if they have an abortion, that is going to be a hugely traumatic experience for them. They will likely be quite far on in their pregnancies and abortion is an invasive procedure and can be quite a violent procedure for any woman to endure. She can feel very isolated in any event. That is the reality. We cannot take this away, we cannot itemise one experience, and I am particularly strong and I have a strong way of coping with things. It is instinctive for women to nurture and we do it physiologically. Our bodies nurture the babies when we are pregnant. They do not distinguish between the fact that they are sick or they are not going to live for very long. A woman's body does what it needs to do and a woman lives out of that place, very much on a physiological level, during pregnancy. That is why abortion is a very destructive and invasive procedure that interrupts entirely what the body and the mind want to do. Women must be dealt with very compassionately. I do not judge or criticise. I fully understand the fear that creeps in. That is the word that was used and was exactly what I felt at the time: huge fear. The challenge for the rest of society is to support, in a real and meaningful way, the woman who is feeling that. Her baby should also be supported in order that the baby's rights are upheld in all of this, and in order that she does not have to walk this walk alone, be it to an abortion clinic or through a natural labour at some point. Either way that baby is going to have be delivered. There is a compassionate and humane way to do it, which I would say is the natural way, with all the supports. Sometimes that is a physical propping up of women and it should be constantly there for them rather than sending them on the lonely journey to an abortion procedure.