Ivana Bacik (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Ministers to the House. I want to make three points in respect of the amendment seeking to delete section 9. First, it would be unconstitutional to delete section 9 because to delete the provision relating to suicide risk would give insufficient regard to the right to life of the pregnant woman and would not implement the X case judgment for the reasons others have already outlined. Second, although abortion is not a treatment for suicide, and nobody has ever said it was, because there is no treatment for suicide, it may sometimes be necessary to prevent the risk of suicide in a woman or a girl, as we saw in the X case and as we heard in the expert evidence.