The media cover-up of the IFPA scandal could put women's lives at risk

Last week the Irish Independent, to its credit, carried a major report revealing how the advice being given by the Irish Family Planning Association and other tax-payer funded agencies is putting the lives of Irish women at risk.

The Independent reported that “an undercover probe had revealed that 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”.

According to reporter, Gemma O’Donoghue: “at the Dundalk office of the Irish Family Planning Association (IFPA), a client was told she could lie to her doctor about having had an abortion, advice that could put a woman’s life at risk, Professor Sam Coulter Smith, the master of Dublin’s Rotunda Hospital, has warned”.

Dr Coulter Smith explained that “There are certain recognised complications that can arise with terminations. Perforation of the womb is one of them and it can have a devastating effect on the integrity of the uterine wall in subsequent pregnancies.”

“I am aware of cases where women have died because they didn’t tell doctors they had had termination which caused their womb to perforate,” he continued.

So here we had an taxpayer-funded body, using taxpayer funds to give ‘advice’ that could have caused a woman to lose her life. This was pretty shocking stuff, but there was more.

The investigation also showed that ‘counsellors’ at abortion referral agencies were telling women how to obtain the abortion pill illegally. At Tallaght IFPA one woman was told: “If you have an address in the North or you can buy a PO box number, and get them to send it . . . You can. . . then go and collect the tablets in the North and take them down here.”

The Independent sais that following a five-hour examination of the material, the HSE launched an investigation, and that Gardai at Dublin’s Store Street station are also looking into the evidence.

The rest of the Irish media then roundly ignored these shocking revelations. It seems that putting women’s lives at risk – and using taxpayer funding while breaking the law – isn’t of any interest to RTÉ, the Irish Times, the Journal etc.

Of course, it’s been fairly obvious for a long time that abortion advocates are happy to overlook women’s welfare to further the cause of killing unborn babies. But what may really be motivating the media cover-up is the risk of losing abortion campaigners their enormous tax payer funding.

In the past ten years the IFPA has seen their income more than double because of lavish tax payer funding, and they have received an eye-watering €10 million from the Irish government since the Crisis Pregnancy Agency first began pouring cash into the abortion-advocating outfit.

Being so flush with cash allows the IFPA ample time and resources to continue their push for abortion, and to engage U.S. lawyers to bring Ireland to the European Court in an attempt to foist abortion on Ireland.

If the HSE – and Health Minister, James Reilly – were serious about accountability and about protecting women in crisis, they would immediately suspend all funding of the IFPA pending a full investigation of illegal practices at the abortion referral agency.

And surely James Reilly should be asking some searching questions of the former IFPA chief, Tony O’Brien, who he has appointed as head of the Irish health service. Yesterday, the Senate heard calls for an open and transparent investigation into allegations of illegal and dangerous activities in abortion referral agencies. If the Minister was serious about protecting women’s health he would establish such an inquiry immediately and suspend funding for the IFPA immediately.

Or will the practice of putting women’s lives at risk simply continue? Any media worth its salt would make sure to find answers to those questions. Instead, with some few exceptions, we’re seeing that the Irish media seem only too anxious to perpetuate the cover-up.

LINKS

• Health Committee seeks information from the HSE