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To: Oireachtas Members – Wicklow Constituency
Dear Oireachtas Member,
A new study based on a series of interviews with Irish doctors who carry out abortions, sheds light on the devastating impact of Ireland’s new abortion law.
The study* published in the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, features these same doctors talking about unborn babies being born alive after failed abortions and left to die without receiving any medical or palliative care.
The doctors performing these abortions talk about the “internal conflict” they experience, with one doctor admitting to getting sick in the corridor after finishing an abortion, while another doctor refers to what they do as “stabbing the baby in the heart”.
Everyone, regardless of where they stand on abortion, should be asking what on earth has happened to our country that we’ve reached a point where even an unborn baby who survives an abortion is deprived of basic medical care as he or she breathes their last.
It has happened too many times in the past that people turn a blind eye to profound injustices out of fear of conceding ground. Clearly, some politicians and journalists adopt an attitude that to concede anything to opponents of abortions risks giving oxygen to the pro-life movement. It’s this kind of blinkered thinking that has led to the sad and unspeakable revelations contained in this latest study on Ireland’s new abortion law.
As my Oireachtas representative, I call on you to back proposals to ensure pain relief is given to unborn babies before late term abortions and that babies born alive after failed abortions receive medical care and are not left to die alone. Regrettably, these most reasonable and humane proposals were rejected by the Dáil in 2018. They need to be reconsidered and given effect by the Oireachtas without delay.
If, as a society, we cannot even agree to show mercy to babies in these spine-chilling situations, then we have no right to continue calling ourselves civilised.
I would appreciate a reply to this email and your views on the matter.
Yours sincerely,
_______________
*Fetal medicine specialist experiences of providing a new service of termination of pregnancy for fatal fetal anomaly: a qualitative study – S Power S Meaney, K O’Donoghue, The Irish Centre for Maternal and Child Health Research (INFANT), University College Cork. Published in the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology (November 2020).
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