Full information on abortion should be out in the open

SIR, What is striking in this referendum debate is that pro-repeal groups never talk about the ghosts abortion leaves in its wake, the suffering.

With the many Love Both rallies being attended around the country this week, many may have heard local media interviews by Claire Culwell, abortion survivor. Claire was a twin. Her mother had an abortion procedure but only one twin was terminated. The mother of Claire Culwell, now 30 years old, had one amniotic sac removed when she was six months pregnant, but her daughter was in a second, undetected sac. Claire suffered much physical injury as a result of the orginal abortion procedure but is very positive about being given a chance at life.

Another abortion survivor, Melissa Ohden founded The Abortion Survivors Network and testified before the US Congress after discovering that she survived an abortion at 31 weeks’ gestation. She is alive because a nurse took pity on her and fought for her to receive medical care. Melissa spoke at the ‘Celebrate the 8th’ event in 2016 and told her story to the Pat Kenny Show on Newstalk Radio.

Official Canadian figures show that over a ten-year period starting in 2000, 491 babies who survived botched abortions were abandoned by medical staff and left to die alone in the corners of hospitals. Women do not hear how, in some cases, their unborn child will be dismembered or have his/her life ended with an injection into the heart.

And while babies suffer through abortion, so too do their mothers. The suicide rate is six times higher for women who had abortions than for those who had given birth (13year study published in the European Journal of Public Health in 2005 by Gissler et al).

If abortion is such an acceptable procedure, why the suppression of such basic information? In truth most people can’t even bear to hear what an abortion procedure is. Let’s protect and saves lives. Save the Eighth.

Sincerely,

Frances Kelleher, Killarney.