Reporting on the confirmation by the Irish Medicines Board recently that the Irish customs authorities made 1,216 seizures of ‘illegal drugs to induce abortions in Ireland’ during 2009, The Irish Times newspaper in a report dated Oct 28th states that:
‘Medical experts have warned many women taking these drugs may be unaware of the proper dosage or administration of the drugs which can result in severe bleeding or incomplete abortions.’[The Life Institute, having made official enquiries about the seizures and having established that the figure of 1,216 actually refers to the number of tablets involved, and not to the number of ‘seizures’ have accused the Irish Times of sloppy reporting.]
The report goes on to say that:
‘Clinics such as the Marie Stopes Reproductive Choices … say they have seen an increase in women seeking assistance after taking these drugs. In many cases, they say women affected said they could not afford to travel abroad for an abortion or, in the case of immigrant women, felt unable to leave the country due to their residency status.’(The severe CEDAW admonitions to Ireland some years ago included the recommendation that Ireland’s pro-life laws should be relaxed to accommodate immigrant women, amongst others.)
The newspaper report continues:
‘Experts say medical abortion should only be completed in the first nine weeks of a pregnancy. The medical complications of abortion include bleeding, infection, incomplete abortion, laceration of the neck of the womb, perforation of the womb and the possibility of a clot moving. The later the abortion the greater the risk of side-effects.’It is extraordinary that such information should be made so available in the media – if a pro-life agency or group were to offer this information in the public arena they would be, and indeed so often have been, targeted as ‘right-wing fundamentalists trying to frighten women’!
Despite the truth about the evil of abortion being given an airing such as this in the national media, let us not be distracted, however, from the relentless push by pro-abortion forces, for Ireland's pro-life ethos and its Constitution to be diminished or, indeed, overturned.
