There will not be any situations where women will require an emergency termination of their pregnancy to save their lives, the Minister for Health has told the Adelaide Hospital Society.
In a detailed response to a lengthy criticism by the society of the proposed abortion referendum and legislation, published in The Irish Times last December, Mr Martin states that the conditions requiring the termination of a pregnancy to save a woman's life, such as cancer of the womb, pre-eclampsia or Eisenmenger's Syndrome, arise over time and would have been monitored for a period before the need to intervene arose.
In its letter the Adelaide Hospital Society, which has four seats on the board of Tallaght Hospital, expressed concern that by restricting procedures involving the termination of a pregnancy to "approved places", the Government could be placing at risk the lives of women without ready access to such places.
Mr Martin said that in certain other circumstances where a serious problem arises, such as haemorrhaging, a doctor would be able to act to stabilise the woman's condition and this would not be affected by the Act.
The society had also criticised the removal of the threat of suicide as a basis for seeking an abortion. In his reply, sent yesterday to Dr Fergus O'Farrell, director of the society, Mr Martin said the Government carefully considered this, but concluded it would not justify the enactment of a legal basis for abortion.
He said: "The Government has concluded, having considered all the evidence on this complex matter, that providing an abortion cannot be considered the appropriate response where a pregnant woman threatens suicide." Equally, the Government decided it would not be appropriate to provide legalised abortion where a woman had been a victim of a sexual assault, he said.
Referring to a case where a seriously malformed foetus was unviable after birth, where the Adelaide had said abortion should be available instead of forcing a woman to carry such a foetus to term, Mr Martin said this too had been considered by the Government and the All-Party Committee on the Constitution, but it was felt it was not possible to legislate for abortion in such circumstances.
"Depending on the condition and the circumstances of a particular case, the period of survival after birth can vary from nil to some hours, several days, weeks or even months.
"For these reasons the Government decided that it would not be feasible to provide in law for a regime where abortion would be permitted in cases of severe foetal abnormality, and to confine such an arrangement only to cases where the child would not survive after birth."
The society had also said that on contraception and assisted human reproduction, the Act would be "well nigh unamendable". Mr Martin disputed this, pointing out that it can be amended, but that such an amendment must be approved by the people in a referendum.
The society had expressed a number of concerns about the care of women with crisis pregnancies, including those who have abortions. Mr Martin said that because the Government shares this concern it has established the Crisis Pregnancy Agency, which would have the task of drawing up a national strategy to address crisis pregnancy.
"I am somewhat surprised that you do not seem to have been aware of the establishment of the Crisis Pregnancy Agency, especially as this is the first time that a Government has taken such a comprehensive approach to this difficult issue," he said.