Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Of course there is subjectivity in medicine every day of the week. This is about trusting clinicians to make judgments. We just had a discussion on the previous section about the variety of scenarios doctors may find themselves in, having to make decisions where there could be a very serious risk to the health of the woman. Doctors have to make decisions. The word "necessary" removes medical judgment. What "appropriate" does is protect such medical judgments. The Senator is right. In section 10 we reference "immediately necessary" as a higher bar due to the fact that under the section, one doctor is allowed to carry out a termination because it is in a very exceptional circumstance and emergency. We have the balance entirely right. In the section where it is the exceptional emergency circumstance and there is one doctor, the immediately necessary bar is applied. In the section where we are speaking about clinical judgment being reached by two doctors and a woman, "appropriate" is the correct word because it protects such judgments. I do not believe we are going to agree on this and I do not wish to go around the houses on it but my view is that "necessary" would remove medical judgment in the situation whereas "appropriate" would protect and allow it.