Sir, - Dr Berry Kiely (The Irish Times, December 14th) claims "current medical evidence actually points to an increase in the risk of suicide following abortion". There is no such evidence. It is unfortunate that protagonists on both sides of the termination divide invoke "the rick of suicide" to bolster their arguments in the absence of supporting scientific evidence. There is no conclusive evidence that the suicide rate in women is influenced by the availability or unavailability of pregnancy termination. The subjective opinion of psychiatric or other experts as to whether any individual pregnant woman is at risk of suicide if not granted a termination belongs in the realm of unreliable predictability and is, of course, open to exploitation. - Yours, etc. Dr Dermot Walsh,
Lower Baggot Street, Dublin 2.