Obstetricians clash over suicide grounds fears

There may never be an abortion carried out in Ireland on the grounds that a woman is suicidal because she is likely to travel to England in such circumstances, according to the Master of the National Maternity Hospital , Rhona Mahony.

However, her counterpart in the Rotunda Hospital, Dr Sam Coulter Smith, took a different view, saying the suicide grounds in proposed legislation may lead to an increase in demand for terminations.

Both of the country’s leading obstetricians were speaking during the Oireachtas Health Committee hearings on the Protection of Life during Pregnancy Bill.