Medics say women will still have to travel for abortion
WOMEN will still have to travel abroad for some abortions, the Institute of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists said yesterday, as it issued its guidelines.
And terminations after 12 weeks are unlikely to be available this year, in a statement that was criticised as ‘shocking but totally predictable’.
The institute’s interim clinical guidance on fatal foetal anomalies states that, for some parents, ‘termination of pregnancy in Ireland may not be an option’.
It adds: ‘It is unlikely that surgical termination of pregnancy after 12 weeks will be widely available nor that D&E (dilation and evacuation) after 14 weeks will be offered in Ireland in 2019, but this may change over time.’
In response Bríd Smith TD said: ‘It is less than three weeks since the Health (Regulation of Termination in Pregnancy) Act 2018 came into legal effect but already its problems and limitations are becoming painfully obvious.’
The People Before Profit TD said: ‘The statement today from the Institute of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists is shocking but totally predictable. They have warned that abortions after 14 weeks may not be available in Ireland.
‘This highlights how women are been failed by this Government through a lack of planning, services and resources allied with deeply flawed legislation.’
The guidelines said that there may be a number of reasons why women may still have to travel for an abortion.
‘This may be for complex reasons including legislative restrictions in Ireland, for non-fatal but major foetal anomalies, the need to travel to another country for treatment, financial or social considerations, as well as access to specific medical procedures’, said the guidelines.
‘During this time, and before termination of pregnancy, these parents should be assisted with preparing for the birth and death of their baby. Opportunities for memory-making can be discussed and planned, as well as the logistics around making arrangements for the baby when the parents are back in Ireland.’
And the act that causes the death of the foetus can be performed before the medical termination takes place, after 21 weeks and six days of gestation, to ensure that there is no risk of a live birth.
And parents must receive counselling before and after the procedure.
The guidelines also said that all women must have equal access to standardised ultrasound services to accurately date the pregnancy, and where a major foetal anomaly is suspected, a woman must be referred to a foetal medicine specialist within 24 to 72 hours. And women should have access to accurate and objective information and counselling if required.
There should also be local arrangements to provide value-neutral information to women about abortion, and it should be in ‘simple, clear and concise English’. Women should also be informed that abortion is generally a safe procedure ‘for which complications and mortality are rare at all gestations’.
The guidelines also recommend bereavement support for patients going through the procedure.
They also say that any medical practitioners with a conscientious objection to taking part in an abortion are obliged to make necessary arrangements for the transfer of care of a pregnant women to enable her to avail of a termination of pregnancy.
In an emergency, ‘the pregnant woman’s care must be made a priority and the necessary treatment must be provided, irrespective of any conscientious objection’.
The interim guidelines come as a woman was reportedly denied an abortion in the Dublin’s Coombe Hospital after she discovered her foetus cannot survive outside the womb.
The alleged refusal comes just two weeks after abortion became legal.
‘Government is failing women’