There is no evidence that abortion reduces suicide risk in pregnancy, consultant psychiatrist Prof Patricia Casey has told the Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children.

Prof Casey, who is Patron of the Catholic lobby group, the Iona Institute, claimed there was some evidence that abortion could actually increase suicide risk in some cases.

She said the need for legislation on the X case that includes suicide risk is not is not supported by scientific evidence.

Addressing the Committee hearing on the abortion issue today, Prof Casey, who works at Dublin's Mater Hospital, said suicide in pregnancy was very rare.

Over a a three-year period in the UK, there had only been four such such cases and in all these cases the women had mental illness problems. This was in a country where abortion was readily available, so the deaths were not linked to the lack of availability of abortion.

Prof Casey said there had been two maternal deaths from suicide reported from 2009-11 in the Irish Maternal Death Inquiry study, but this was a draft report and the full details were not yet available.

She said there was a false belief that many women in Ireland were dying due to suicide because we did not have the appropriate abortion legislation.

Prof Casey said a woman who is pregnant and suicidal needed proper treatment.

She said in her practice over the years, she had seen two cases where pregnant women were suicidal, had taken overdoses and had asked for abortions. Prof Casey said these patients had been under pressure from partners and families to make an abortion decision.

She said the patients concerned subsequently gave birth.

Prof Casey said she had never seen a suicidal pregnant woman for whom an abortion was the only treatment, and there was no evidence that abortion helped women's mental health or could prevent suicide.

She expressed concern that legislating for abortion could open the floodgates for widespread terminations to take place.

An expert on mental health issues in pregnancy rejected claims that pregnant women claiming to be suicidal could 'manipulate' psychiatrists into recommending abortion.

Consultant psychiatrist Dr Anthony McCarthy told the Committee that all psychiatrists were very familiar with the small number of patients who would attempt to manipulate them.

He said the vast majority of people who come to psychiatrists for help, however, were genuinely distressed and women in pregnancy would be no different in that regard.

Dr McCarthy, who works at St Vincent's and Holles Street Hospitals, said much of the public debate about suicide in pregnancy had been harsh and judgmental.

Dr Mary McCaffrey, consultant obstetrician at Kerry General Hospital, said it should be ensured that the future legislation on abortion is only acted on in the rarest of circumstances.

She said in acute emergencies such as acute sepsis and haemorrhage, the clear consensus among obstetricians was that they would always act to ensure that the life of the mother was not compromised.

On suicidal ideation, Dr McCaffrey said the general view among colleagues she had consulted was that the diagnosis and treatment of patients presenting with suicidal ideation or intent could only be carried out by psychiatrists and that obstetricians were not trained to have an input into this diagnostic process.

She said no medical person should feel obliged to carry out a procedure they do not agree with, and person who has a conscientious objection must be allowed to follow their conscience.

Master slams abortion suicide risk claims