Abortion and mental health grounds

Dear Editor,

There is one area that stands out in relation to abortion, which is the area of mental health.

In England (and Wales) 97% of terminations in 2016 were on ‘mental health’ grounds. Mental health is interpreted very liberally, taking into account the similarly high percentage of women presenting for abortions for various socio-economic reasons.

Though the Oireachtas Committee acknowledged that the majority of terminations are carried out for socio-economic reasons that are unrelated to foetal abnormality or to rape, those rare cases are being highlighted while the significance of the numbers relating to socio-economic reasons is masked and the Government’s proposed legislation is presented as ‘restrictive’.

Its proposals to have a short ‘cooling off ’ period and to have abortions, on the grounds of risk to life and health of the mother, sanctioned by two doctors also apply in England.

Unlike England the ‘12 weeks’ in Ireland is for abortion ‘with no restriction as to reason’, making it potentially more liberal than in Britain, where one in five pregnancies is terminated.

This is not restrictive. It is essentially providing for abortion on demand if the only legal protection for the fragile lives of unborn babies is removed from the Constitution.

Regards,

Eileen Gaughan Strandhill