Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Minister says Ms X tragically miscarried but I would say she was tragically raped. Given that she wanted to terminate her pregnancy, I do not believe the miscarriage was her greatest misfortune. Nobody is saying that abortion is a treatment for suicide. Although a woman can become suicidal during a crisis pregnancy, are we supposed to tell her, “Listen, woman, an abortion won't cure your problems.”? Dealing with an unwanted pregnancy through abortion may deal with the woman's problems. It could be that she has been raped. Perhaps continuing with pregnancy could prove too much to bear.

We proposed that one obstetrician and one psychiatrist is sufficient. The Irish Family Planning Association has stated:

The diagnosis of expressed suicide intent is a routine process for psychiatrists and the requirement of a second psychiatrist when this does not occur when a pregnancy is not involved has no justification. Imposing a different standard of decision-making in cases where the risk arises from threat of suicide risks stigmatising mental health conditions.

The proposal for suicidal pregnant women in the Bill could be described as being barbaric and tantamount to mental torture. It tells women that mental health is not real health and that the State does not trust them. It tells them they must be interrogated and prove themselves not to be liars. The Bill is based on the premise that women are manipulative and untrustworthy, and this is an insult to them. Anyone who tries to argue that women are going to have equal rights with men following the manner in which this Bill has been structured is not thinking rationally.

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