Committee abortion hearings: experts say no need to kill unborn baby and abortion not treatment for suicide

The Life Institute has welcomed clarification provided by Oireachtas Committee hearings this morning which heard that there was no need to directly take the life of an unborn child and that suicide in pregnancy was "extremely rare".

Senator Dr John Crowne, who is one of Ireland's leading oncologists, asked searching questions of senior Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, Dr Sam Coulter Smyth, Dr Mary McCarthy, and Dr Rhona Mahony at the hearing.

Dr Crowne asked all three if they were aware of instances where there had been "needless maternal deaths" because of the current legal position on abortion.

All three doctors confirmed that they were not aware of any such instances, and/or that they had not been prevented from providing life-saving medical treatment by Ireland's laws on abortion.

Dr Crowne also estimated that there were up to 30 instances arising each year where a pregnancy was brought to an end to save the life of a mother.

He then got to the nub of the issue under discussion, the difference between terminating a pregnancy and terminating the life of an unborn child, when he asked if there were cases which required the killing of the fetus.

Dr Sam Coulter Smyth said that in most situations it was possible to "deliver the foetus rather than kill the unborn" while Dr Rhona Mahony said that while delivery before viability might be required there was "no intention to kill the fetus".

Dr Coulter Smyth and Dr McCarthy also confirmed that not one woman had committed suicide in their hospitals in the 20 years since the X case because they could not obtain an abortion.

Dr McCarthy said that she had consulted with a group of twelve consultants and that the group has not come across any women requiring an abortion arising from the threat of suicide.

It was also clarified that all life-saving treatments were always provided to women with cancer arising in pregnancy.

In the afternoon session Professor Patricia Casey confirmed that in her experience she had not come across a pregnant woman expressing suicidal ideation for whom abortion was the only answer.

Niamh Uí Bhriain of the Life Institute said that the hearing showed the absolute importance of clarifying the difference between terminating a pregnancy and terminating the life of a baby.

"Clearly, doctors understand that terminating a pregnancy is sometimes required to save a life, but terminating the life of the baby is not. Our politicians need to be acutely aware of this distinction, and to act to prevent the direct and intentional killing of the baby" she said.

LINKS

• Medics want legal protection, abortion hearing told
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• Archives of Committee Hearings