Ms Liz McDermott:

That is a big question. Changes I would like to see include having a whole system put in place at the point of delivery of bad news to a pregnant woman so as to deal with it and provide support. That would require a big investment and considerable research. Consultation with families who have gone through this would be really useful, as would reaching out with an open mind and open views to everybody to contribute truthfully and honestly. I have tried to outline the negative experiences people have reported to groups like One Day More. My own experience was that when one is in the medical process and dealing with feelings about one's baby, one is also interacting with doctors. A person is just another patient number to them, part of a clinical process. It is not quite a conveyor belt but there is a slight element of that. One feels like one is in the way and causing trouble. All of that requires psychological and emotional support and another care pathway in order that one does not sit in waiting rooms with all the healthy pregnant women. There should be another system that would kick in.

Considering the American model would be a good starting point for the committee. It would be great if that could be recommended to the Government and perinatal hospice care highlighted as an urgent requirement in order that women find out at the beginning what is going to happen and what the path ahead for them will look like. If that does not happen, women do not know what the road ahead will be for them but are looking down a very uncertain and scary path that they have to walk on their own. Going for an abortion can seem not like a choice but, rather, the only option one can take at that point, which is the point of decision. If the perinatal hospice and antenatal support care package was put in place, it would hopefully render redundant the situation of having to abort one's baby. My desire is for women to have an option not to have to abort their babies because the country provides a world-class, very progressive modern and supportive system of care for them.