Monday, October 29, 2012

Call for Independent Enquiry into IFPA and HSE pregnancy counselling services


European Life Network (ELN) adds its voice with those who seek an independent inquiry into the shocking revelations about pregnancy counselling practices at Irish Family Planning Association (IFPA) and Health Services Executive (HSE) run clinics in Ireland. See previous ELN article dated 27.10.2012 which reports on the background.

The revelations from an undercover investigation into taxpayer funded crisis pregnancy agencies, published in Saturday’s Irish Independent, reveal a callous indifference to Ireland pro-life laws and a widespread culture of disregard for women’s lives and health.

Dr Ruth Cullen in a statement called for “an independent public inquiry into how such professional malpractice has been allowed to go unnoticed and uncorrected by the agencies legally tasked with monitoring them.

Dr Cullen said: “Regardless of where one stands on abortion, the findings raise huge issues about women’s lives and safety. They also raise very serious questions about lax governance in the agencies.”

ELN are in full agreement with Dr Cullen who pointed out that since the HSE and the Crisis Pregnancy Programme (CPP) are themselves implicated in the failure of proper governance of the crisis pregnancy agencies funded by them, they are part of the problem and obviously cannot be allowed to supervise the investigation.