Abortion laws ‘could further damage mental health’

The procedure in place for a pregnant woman at risk of suicide to obtain a legal termination under the recent abortion legislation could further damage her mental health, according to a perinatal psychology expert.

Dr Anthony McCarthy, consultant psychiatrist at the National Maternity Hospital, said for the "very small number of women" who are depressed, suicidal, want a termination and are financially able to travel outside the country, "my question will be…why put yourself through this legislation?"

He was referring to the procedure in place under Section 9 of the 2013 Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act, which allows for a legal termination on suicide grounds. The suicidal woman must be assessed by one obstetrician and two psychiatrists, who must agree the risk to the woman’s life can only be averted by carrying out a termination.

“Trying to trust one person to tell your personal distress to is difficult enough. But telling it to a second, and then a third? That in itself might further damage her mental health.”

Dr McCarthy was speaking at a conference in Dublin on the current legal issues facing maternity healthcare professionals in Ireland.

Speakers at the conference, organised by La Touche training, addressed the recent abortion legislation.

Dr McCarthy called the legislation “a legal minefield” that psychiatrists are “very wary” of, particularly because of media attention and public scrutiny. “Most psychiatrists want to run a million miles away from this issue,” he said.

Dr Chris Fitzpatrick, consultant obstetrician and former master of the Coombe, described the legislation as a "surreal Irish solution to an Irish problem".

He added: “This is a country of 1600 years of Christianity. But this is a secular society, and I think we need to address the issue.

“We have exported this problem to the UK. We have polarised debates,” he said. “We need to get our heads out of the sand and deal with this issue as a society.”

Dr Fitzpatrick spoke about other challenges in maternity services.

“The most startling, concerning and alarming statistic for me is the fact that the consultant obstetrician-to-patient ratio is the lowest in the OECD.

“We’re skating on very thin ice. We’re moving very quickly all the time, dealing with the tsunami of patients we’re looking after. If we stop, I’m afraid we’ll sink.”

Dr Fitzpatrick said the country’s maternity hospitals were operating “way beyond capacity”.

“We have under-resourced pregnancy services. We do not have a robust perinatal pathology service in this country,” he said.