Two of the Masters of maternity hospitals here have clashed over the provision of an abortion to save the life of a woman if she is suicidal. Obstetricians are appearing this afternoon before the Oireachtas Health Committee looking at the draft laws.
Master of the Rotunda in Dublin Dr. Sam Coulter-Smyth says the inclusion of suicide is an ethical dilemma as there is no evidence that a termination is a treatment for a woman who claims to be suicidal.
But the Master of the National Maternity Hospital at Holles Street in Dublin says the legislation is about saving the life of a woman and suicide is death.
And Dr. Rhona Mahony says every effort is made to protect the life of a foetus.
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Meanwhile Dr. Sam Coulter Smith told Newstalk Breakfast he has concerns about the inclusion of suicide in the legislation.
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The Health Minister earlier said that the new abortion laws insist that wherever a foetus is viable every effort must be made to protect that life, when carrying out a procedure to save the life of a woman.
3 days of hearings by the Oireachtas health committee are now underway to examine the draft laws. The committee will report back to the coalition before the final laws are drafted.
Concern has been expressed by the Catholic Archbishop of Dublin that the equal right to life will not be upheld in late-term terminations where a woman is suicidal.
Opening the debate this morning, Minister James Reilly moved to assure people that when saving a woman's life, doctors will always make efforts to save the life of the unborn that is viable.
Chief Medical Officer on suicide
The country's Chief Medical Officer says you cannot say that suicide would never be a real and substantial risk to the life of a mother. And Tony Holohan says that is one of the reasons that the risk of suicide is in the proposed abortion laws.
Some staunchly pro-life Fine Gael and Independent TDs and Senators have questioned the point of the hearings - saying the last time there were hearings in January the views were widely ignored in the drafting of the Bill.
Doctor Holohan says the suicide provision had to go into the laws because it could not be left out.
