A statement by Professor Anthony Clare, one of the country’s leading psychiatrists, in which he said “abortion is not a psychiatric issue” is a contradiction of what he told the all-party committee on the matter, according to the Labour Party.
A joint statement issued by Prof Clare and Prof Patricia Casey stated that “no evidence can be found unequivocally linking suicide to the refusal of abortion”. They stated that pro-choice campaigners should not enrol psychiatry to promote their view.
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Ms Liz McManus
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However, Labour's health spokeswoman Ms Liz McManus today expressed her surprise at the statement from Prof Clare. She quoted him telling the committee that suicide as a consequence of termination was a low risk but not a non-existent risk and that there have been rare instances in which it has happened.
"If Professor Clare acknowledges the fact that, in a rare number of cases, the refusal of a termination can result in suicide, how can he then claim that psychiatric considerations have no role in the abortion debate?" Ms McManus asked.
She said a letter from the Royal College of Psychiatrists recently pointed out that while there were 'no absolute psychiatric indications for termination of pregnancy' this does not mean that there is 'no psychiatric justification for abortion'.
Ms McManus said Professor Clare and Professor Casey do not have a monopoly of professional wisdom on the matter, citing comments by Dr John Connolly on RTÉ last night. “There are a number of practitioners who would strongly dispute their claims,” Ms McManus said.
“In the C case a judge was satisfied that the psychiatric evidence given by a leading child psychiatrist, Dr Gerard Byrne, was conclusive and was grounds for a 13 year old girl, who had been brutally raped, to have a termination of pregnancy to save her life,” concluded Deputy McManus.
The statement by Prof Clare and Prof Casey concluded with an expression of support for the Government’s proposed amendment that will voted upon in the referendum on March 6th.
Responding to Ms McManus' criticism, Prof Clare told ireland.comthat he had nothing further to add to what he has already told the all-party committee.