Irish Times finally reports Irish Family Planning advice scandal.

Yesterday's Order of Business in the Seanad was dominated by the scandal of IFPA councellors offering dangerous and illegal advice which could possibly put women's lives in danger. The discussion was reported in today's Independent. You can read that here. The story is beginning to be taken seriously at last. It's about time.
The Irish Times has also begun to take the story seriously, Ivana must have given the nod, that can be read here.

Senators call for investigation into "illegal" advice offered by the IFPA.

During today's Order of Business in the Seanad several senators raised the issue of illegal and dangerous advice being offered by the IFPA under the Crisis Pregnancy Program. I have already blogged about the actual issue, it was originally exposed about a week and a half ago by Gemma O'Doherty in the Irish Independent. Several senators raised the subject yesterday during the Order of business. It was first raised by Senator Marc MacSharry who welcomed the proposed investigation. Of course he was barley finished speaking when the leading campaigner for abortion in Ireland and leader of the Labour Party in the Seanad (and serial failed Dáil candidate) Ivana Bacik stood to speak. She wanted to talk about non-taxpayer funded organizations, rogue organizations, as she likes to call them, that should be investigated. Perhaps she feels that a proper investigation would be diluted if others weer investigated. This is the oldest trick in the civil service book but Sir Humphrey she ain't. The next person to speak was Senator Rónán Mullen and despite several interruptions by human rights superstar and the real President of Ireland, Senator David Norris made the point that women's lives were endangered and Senator Bacik was trying to minimize that fact. Senator Norris in his usual histrionic manner was going on about impugning named people despite no actual people being named. Did I mention that he has a biography out about how he singlehandedly won human rights for all people?
There were many good contributions from quite a few senators. It would be unfair to name any more senators without mentioning them all but you can read the transcripts here. Other topics are covered too.

Is illegal advice offered by the IFPA being ignored?

In his column in today's Irish Independent David Quinn asks the question why are the accusations against the IFPA being ignored? The accusations which appeared in last Saturday's Independent are substantial. RTÉ are still refusing to cover the story. This is the same network that sent a team of reporters to Kenya to carryout interviews that were used in a program that let to one of the worst cases of libel in recent years. RTÉ clearly have an agenda and that agenda is to ignore stories based on factual evidence that expose their pro-abortion fellow travelers. The story has also failed to be taken up by the "paper of record." Fintan O'Toole's head might explode if he was forced to write on this story. Quinn starts his column by giving Ireland's opinion makers a history lesson:

A FEW years back, at taxpayers' expense, the Crisis Pregnancy Agency launched an advertising campaign warning women not to be manipulated by 'rogue' anti-abortion pregnancy-counselling agencies.
The then Health Minister Mary Harney described the manipulative behaviour of such agencies as "quite appalling".
The pro-choice Irish Family Planning Association (IFPA) joined in the attack, with a briefing document on those 'rogue' agencies.
Thanks to the Irish Independent, we discovered last weekend that there are plenty of 'roguish' elements on the pro-choice side too. In fact, 'roguish' is putting it very mildly.

Indeed! The hypocrisy of those who campaign on the platform of women's health is particularly galling. The full piece is here.

Minister calls for IFPA investigation.

Illegal advice by Irish Family Planning Association to be Investigated.

The story in last Saturday's Irish Independent is beginning to cause a stir in political circles. As of yet the national broadcaster, RTÉ have refused to cover the story other than a mention in their online presence. They even refused to cover it in their "As it says in the papers" section. This is another example of the pro-abortion bias which has taken hold of the entity which, despite advertizing revenue and forcing every household in the state to pay a €160 tax still can't stop losing money. If you haven't already then go take a look at www.hearbothsides.org and see examples of RTÉ's bias in this area. There was no mention of it at all in the Irish Times. Maybe they're waiting for Ireland's leading intellectual Fintan O'Toole to offer more advice to Ireland's farmers before they comment. Gemma O'Doherty has followed up her story from Saturday with some of the political reaction.

HSE chiefs face grilling over illegal advice on abortions

HSE chiefs are to be quizzed by a Dail committee about revelations that staff at some state-funded crisis pregnancy services gave illegal and medically dangerous advice to women during one-to-one counselling sessions.
And Junior Minister for European Affairs Lucinda Creighton described the allegations - revealed in the Irish Independent on Saturday - as "extremely serious" and said they "must be investigated by all of the appropriate authorities".

The full story is to be found here.

The Irish Family Planning Association offers a "comprehensive range of services" even ones detrimental to women's health.

Abortion campaigner uses taxpayer funds to endanger women's health!

It was revealed in this morning's Irish Independent that the Crisis Pregnancy Program which comes under the HSE is implicated in a scandal whereby women were offered advice that was dangerous and potentially illegal. It is astounding that an organization like the IFPA which is Ireland's leading pro-abortion organization to the extent it took the state to court receives taxpayer funds in order to advance its agenda. The money it receives is to provide non-directive counselling. Instead we see that the advice offered isn't just in contravention of those conditions it is dangerous and potentially illegal. It's time for our elected representatives and especially the Minister for Health, Dr Reilly to call for an investigation.
This story is due to the excellent investigative reporting of Gemma O'Doherty and the women who actually caught the IFPA people on tape.

Revealed: the abortion advice that could put lives at risk.

   
STAFF at some taxpayer-funded pregnancy counselling services are putting women's lives at risk and breaking the law, an undercover probe has revealed.Some of the advice they gave about abortion was illegal, according to a leading lawyer, and some was medically dangerous, a top doctor says.In several instances, women were told to hide their abortions from their doctors, a course of action that could endanger life if post-surgery abortion complications remain undiagnosed.

Read more here.

Also in today's Irish Independent medical and legal experts have their say on this story.

Shocking breach of good medical practice, says Rotunda chief

A LEADING obstetrician has warned that advice given by some taxpayer-funded pregnancy-counselling services is putting women's lives in danger.
Sam Coulter Smith, clinical professor of obstetrics and gynaecology at the Royal College of Surgeons, said he was "shocked and very disappointed" to learn that Irish women who travel to Britain for abortions are being told they should hide this from their doctors.
The findings, which emerged as part of an undercover investigation into crisis-pregnancy counselling services, are now the subject of an HSE probe.

More about that here.
Considering the fact that the Minister for Health thinks that the former head of the IFPA is an appropriate person to head the HSE the question must be asked, is the HSE the appropriate body to investigate this scandal?

500, no, 5,000, no, 2,500, no 2,000 ...

I was going to blog about the March for abortion choice which goes under the rather disingenuous title March for Choice (variously #march4choice and #marchforchoice on Twitter), I mean what choice are they talking about? Boxers or briefs, paper or plastic? No they want the choice to kill human persons. Anyway I could go on about that but as I said I was going to blog about the march but the story of the day wasn't the march itself or the rather predictable speeches (the capitalist bishops want to control your fertility and ignore the bank bailout - Clare Wallace neé Daly, late of the Socialist Party) but the numbers fiasco.
I'd link to the story in the Irish Times, posted almost two hours after the conclusion of the march, that mentioned how the turnout was dismal, around 500 only it changed later that night. Between 6PM and about 11 Twitter was alive with people encouraging pro abortion choice advocates to contact the Irish Times, eventually the paper of Ricard relented and changed to a rather vague report of thousands turning up.
Anyway, the fiasco is captured pretty comprehensibly here in this new blog.   The Quicker goes the journalist the slower go his thoughts.

PLC says National Women’s Council of Ireland no longer a “mainstream representative group for Irish women”

The National Women's Council of Ireland (NWCI) is the representative organisation for some women and certain women's groups in Ireland. They now support abortion at all stages. They can no longer claim to represent all women or all women's organizations. Last year they attacked Women Hurt for having the temerity to speak out about their own experiences of abortion. Now they're giving comfort to the most extreme element in the pro abortion movement in Ireland. I really hope that some of their member organizations let them know that they do not speak for them.

PLC says National Women’s Council of Ireland no longer a “mainstream representative group for Irish women”

27th September 2012

Speaking in response to a statement issued today by the National Women's Council of Ireland calling for abortion legislation, Dr. Ruth Cullen, Education Spokesperson of the Pro Life Campaign said;
"The NWCI can no longer call themselves a mainstream representative group for Irish women. Only last year the NWCI launched a scathing attack on Women Hurt,  for simply launching a billboard campaign drawing attention to abortion regret and the stories of women seeking hope and healing after abortion.
In citing public support for abortion today, it is interesting to note that the NWCI quoted a recent poll which made no distinction between necessary medical interventions in pregnancy and induced abortion which targets the life of the baby. Polls that do not make this ethical distinction are meaningless in the current abortion debate."

The same statement with some additional comment can be found here.