Terence Flanagan (Dublin North East, Independent)
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203. To ask the Minister for Health if any extra medical training will be provided to medical professionals in order to ensure the correct implementation of the Protection of Life during Pregnancy Act; and if so, the type of training involved; the cost of same; the numbers undergoing this training; if this training will be conducted here or abroad; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [51000/13]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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The main purpose of the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act 2013 is to restate the general prohibition on abortion in Ireland while regulating access to lawful termination of pregnancy in accordance with the X case and the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights in the A, B and C v Ireland case. Its purpose is to confer procedural rights on a woman who believes she has a life-threatening condition, so that she can have certainty as to whether she requires this treatment or not. The Act provides for existing rights, i.e. within the Constitutional provisions and the Supreme Court judgment in the X case, and it does not confer any new substantive rights to a termination of pregnancy.

One of the requirements for a medical procedure to be lawful under the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act 2013 in non-emergency circumstances is that, following certification, it must be carried out by an obstetrician on the Specialist Division of the Medical Council Register at an appropriate location. In this context, it is not considered that additional training is required.