Another leading Obstetrician and Gynecologist has taken issue with reports suggesting that pregnant women’s lives are being put at risk by the Eighth Amendment. Writing in today’s Irish Independent, Dr Mary Holohan, a consultant obstetrician in the Rotunda Hospital in Dublin, states: “I am concerned that recent statements are causing unnecessary fears for women. They suggest that obstetricians are curtailed in their ability to care for pregnant patients who are seriously ill.” She said across the world, only a tiny proportion of terminations of pregnancy are related to obstetrical care and “Ireland’s law fully provides for the small number of cases relating to necessary obstetric interventions”.
She continued: “Where it arises, the duty to intervene to save the woman’s life is clear. Under the present law we have full freedom and support for the requirements of ethical and safe practice”. She also made the point that in such situations, the threat to the woman’s life “does not need to be imminent” in order for a doctor to intervene, and concluded: “We have the scope of practice needed to guarantee best international standards of care to women in pregnancy. Indeed, Ireland has an excellent record, with very low numbers of women who die in pregnancy.”
Dr Holohan was appointed to the expert group which advised the Department of Health on the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act 2013. She was also the medical director of the Sexual Assault Treatment Unit in the Rotunda for many years and is currently Director of Examinations and chairperson of the Examinations Committee of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland.