Sir, - In addressing the moral issue of induced pregnancy termination, Patricia Casey (The Irish Times, December 2nd) confuses matters by introducing medical considerations. She compounds her difficulties by stating that "abortion is associated with a 10 per cent risk of depressive disorder". Does she mean that 10 per cent of women who have had an induced termination subsequently suffer depressive illness and that such depression is "caused" by termination? If so, she fails to appreciate the precariousness of her position, given that sound scientific evidence indicates that the incidence of major depression in women overall is around 10 per cent and that the matter of causality is highly complex.
A further difficulty is that we do not know what she means by "depression". While there is some objective and much anecdotal evidence that some women may suffer transient feelings of regret, confusion and ambivalence following a termination, there are no sustainable grounds for categorically asserting that the incidence of major depression is increased compared with the risk in women who have not had termination.
Relevantly, not much is known about the mental health of women who do not have terminations of their unwanted pregnancies. However, it must be borne in mind that our courts, on the basis of medical evidence, concluded that the risks to the lives of X and C by reason of their mental states would be relieved by termination. - Yours, etc.,
From (Dr) Dermot Walsh
St Loman's Hospital, Palmerstown, Dublin 20.