Catholic Bishop Dr Kevin Doran has said it is wrong for a woman to get back at a rapist by having an abortion.

Dr Doran, who is Bishop of Elphin, was speaking in the context of the ongoing controversy over Ireland's laws in the area.

He said the Church's teaching focuses on the fact that the unborn child is a human being.

Asked whether a woman should have to give birth to a child conceived through rape, Bishop Doran cited an example he had seen in the course of his work.

"You don't destroy a life in order to get back at the mother's rapist," he said. "I had the experience many years ago of talking to a woman who had been raped and had become pregnant.

"She called me one evening and said the baby had died in the womb. I kind of said that I thought perhaps, maybe you would have been somewhat relieved and she said 'No, you don’t understand. The only good thing I had was that child."