Previous abortion a factor in young mother's death

It has emerged that the tragic death of Ms Bimbo Onanuga in 2010 was most likely caused by an earlier abortion. See RTE report

Coroner Dr Brian Farrell in delivering a ruling of death by medical misadventure in the case of Ms Onanuga, who died at the Mater Hospital in 2010 after being transferred there from the Rotunda Hospital, found that a principal risk factor in her death was a pre-existing scar caused by an earlier abortion, along with the use of misoprostol, which had caused her uterus to contract.

Irish Medicines Board Director of Scientific Affairs, Dr J M Morris in his evidence to the Court said that misoprostal was not approved for use to induce labour. Such use is called off-label and is done on the responsibility of the doctor who gives it.

Coroner Dr Brian Farrell found that a principal risk factor in the death of Ms Bimbo Onanuga was a pre-existing scar caused by an earlier abortion, along with the use of misoprostol, which had caused the uterus to contract.

The inquest heard that Ms Onanuga’s uterus had ruptured, and her baby had delivered through a rupture, into the abdominal cavity. The inquest also heard that the postmortem found that the site of the rupture had been weakened by scarring caused by an earlier abortion.

Dr Sam Coulter-Smith, Master of the Rotunda, told the inquest that it was “probably reasonably safe to assume” that the scarring had been caused during a previous abortion, when Ms Onanuga's womb had been perforated, and that this predisposed her to rupture.  He also said that it was an "unrecognised perforation" and that the Rotunda had no information that any complication had occurred during the abortion.

Dr Sean Ó Domhnaill commenting on the case on behalf of the Life Institute offered his sympathies to Ms Onanuga's family and said that the media would be doing a “huge disservice to women if they ignored the central fact in the case - that scarring from an earlier abortion had led to this women's tragic death."

Dr O’ Domhnaill  said that the case showed that abortion clinics posed a real and substantial risk to women's lives, and that abortionists were all too often "substandard practitioners who caused physical harm to women and did not even bother to report it". 

"Clearly, the Rotunda were made aware of the earlier abortion, but not of the complication - the perforation to the womb - which caused the scarring. The question is: did Ms Onanuga even know about the injury caused to her by the abortionist? Is this yet another case of abortion malpractice where women die?" he asked.

Catholic Church response to government plan for same-sex marriage referendum

Following the announcement by the Irish Government that it will hold a referendum on same sex marriage in May 2015, Bishop Denis Nulty the Bishop of Kildare & Leighlin issued a strong statement of opposition to the proposed changes to the very essence of marriage and by extension, the family.

The debate at the heart of the referendum announced today by the Government is not about equality or about the false separation of a religious view of marriage from the civil view of marriage. It is about the very nature of marriage itself and the importance society places on the role of mothers and fathers in bringing up children. With others, the Catholic Church will continue to hold that the differences between a man and woman are not accidental to marriage but fundamental to it and that children have a natural right to a mother and a father and that this is the best environment for them where possible.

Married love is a unique form of love between a man and woman which has a special benefit for the whole of society. With others of no particular religious view, the Church regards the family based on marriage between a woman and a man as the single most important institution in any society.

To change the nature of marriage would be to undermine it as the fundamental building block of our society. The Church will therefore participate fully in the democratic debate leading up to the referendum and will seek with others to reaffirm the rational basis for holding that marriage should be reserved for the unique and complimentary relationship between a woman and a man from which the generation and upbringing of children is uniquely possible.

As Christians our primary commandment is to love. Love always demands that we respect the dignity of every human person. That is why the Catholic Church clearly teaches that people who are homosexual must always be treated with sensitivity, compassion and respect. It is not lacking in sensitivity or respect for people who are homosexual however to point out that same-sex relationships are fundamentally different from opposite sex relationships and that society values the complementary roles of mothers and fathers in the generation and up-bringing of children. 

Comment.

It is heartening to know that the Irish Bishops intend to participate fully in the democratic debate leading up to the referendum and will work with others to oppose it.

We agree that our primary commandment as Christians is to Love. Love however is not just about respecting the dignity of others it is also about upholding the truth even if by doing so others are offended. The expression of truth in love is at the heart of the Christian message which in addition to respecting dignity must have an eternal perspective in caring for the immortal souls of those who are in error.

Referendum on same-sex marriage expected in 2015

RTE report Tuesday November 5^th that the Irish Government Cabinet has agreed to hold a  referendum on civil marriage for same-sex couples, which is likely to take place in mid-2015. It is understood that Minister for Justice Alan Shatter brought a memo to the Cabinet this morning on the issue.

This is social engineering at its worst and can only damage the institution of marriage.

This issue has been very much in the news in the UK in recent months and we are linking to an excellent document prepared by the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) on the issue and would recommend that it should be widely circulated.

In a separate article the Sunday Times reported that Minister Shatter will give guardianship rights of children to gay couples in advance of the referendum.

Tánaiste (Deputy Prime Minister) Eamon Gilmore recently said he hoped there would be a referendum on same-sex marriages during the lifetime of the Government. He said the right of gay people to marry was an "important issue". Mr Gilmore also said it would be "important to win this referendum".

It was also reported last week that two labour MEPs called for a referendum on same-sex marriage on the same date as the local and European elections next May, to ensure a good voter turnout.

Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Enda Kenny however, bruised by his humiliating defeat in the Seanad Referendum, and concerned that he will be faced with a new backbench revolt within Fine Gael, was last week reported to be hesitating. It appears that the compromise decision has been to push the referendum date to 2015.

The Sunday Times Nov. 3rd reported on a briefing note on  Justice Minister Alan Shatter's Family Relationships and Children's Bill, a draft of which is to be brought before the Cabinet shortly. Sarah McInerney [p. 1] reports: 'The minister intends to provide that in a surrogacy case, parentage may be legally assigned by the court on the basis of a genetic connection to one of the parents, with agreement of the surrogate. … It also proposes to give guardianship // [p. 2] rights of children to gay couples for the first time. … Shatter's proposals would allow a civil partner who is living with the adoptive or biological parent of a child and acting 'in loco parentis' for more than a year, to apply for guardianship of the child. The government intends for this aspect of the bill, which will be brought before the Oireachtas ahead of a referendum on same-sex marriage, to deal with many of the issues which may arise in the referendum debate in relation to adoption and guardianship of children by gay couples. … Shatter confirmed he will be bringing a comprehensive draft bill before cabinet shortly.'

Other reports at variance with the Sunday Times report suggest that the proposal to give guardianship rights of children to gay couples will not be part of the ‘Family Relationships and Children's Bill’ but will be legislated for separately in a stand alone bill.

Hundreds of babies may have been aborted due to misdiagnosis in major teaching hospital in Wales

The Daily Mail has published a shocking report based on an investigation by the Ombudsman for Wales, that says hundreds of babies may have been aborted after NHS staff at a major teaching hospital in Wales routinely failed to make vital checks.

 Women at the University Hospital of Wales were given botched scans, which could have wrongly told them they had miscarried their babies.

Emily Wheatley, 31, almost went through with an abortion, but a scan at a different hospital showed that her baby was alive and well

An investigation by the Ombudsman of Wales found that the hospital had been using outdated guidelines when diagnosing miscarriages

It is now feared hundreds of women could have lost their babies

According to the report which can be found on this link, 

hundreds of pregnant women may have had healthy babies aborted after scanning blunders at a top hospital.

An investigation found that medics had been using a flawed procedure for scanning women who were at risk of losing their babies.

 It is feared that many will have been wrongly told they had miscarried and given drugs to terminate the pregnancy.

 The ‘fundamental error’ in procedure goes back to 2006.

Midwives investigating miscarriages are recommended to use an internal transvaginal scan which is more accurate than the external Doppler ultrasound procedure.

The scandal came to light after Emily Wheatley, 31, was told she had miscarried at nine weeks following investigations at the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff.

But when she attended a different hospital for treatment with drugs to remove the foetus in July 2012, staff carried out a further scan which revealed a baby’s heartbeat. Miss Wheatley went on to give birth to a healthy baby but was ‘traumatised’ by the events.

Fears: In Ms Wheatley's case the error was spotted, and she gave birth to a healthy baby. But an investigation has raised fears that other women may not have been so lucky

 

'I COULDN'T BELIEVE THEY HAD GOT IT WRONG'

Emily Wheatley yesterday spoke of her despair after being told by a midwife she could not detect a  heartbeat during her first scan.

Another midwife repeated the procedure at the University Hospital of Wales, in Cardiff, but concluded she had suffered a silent miscarriage.

It was only when she went to Nevill Hall Hospital in Abergavenny that another scan revealed she was still pregnant. Miss Wheatley, of Monmouth,  who is now mother to healthy eight-month-old  Ella was left ‘traumatised’.

She said: ‘When I saw the baby clearly on the screen, I couldn’t really believe that the University Hospital of Wales had got it wrong. I feel angry at the decision to not follow a simple process which could have prevented this misdiagnosis.’

Miss Wheatley, who suffers from polycystic ovary syndrome, added: ‘It’s just unbelievable that there are potentially other women out there who have been diagnosed with having a silent miscarriage. And they potentially have got rid of healthy babies –  that frightens me.

‘Maybe hundreds of babies have been lost because of their decision.’

The investigation found UHW staff were ‘systematically failing’ to perform the correct scans on women with suspected early pregnancy loss.

A damning report from Peter Tyndall, the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales, says well-established clinical guidance was ignored for seven  years. The findings will be ‘extremely disturbing’ for women who have had terminations in that time, he said.

A spokesman for the Royal College of Gynaecologists,  who issued the guidelines, yesterday said  almost every unit in England was signed up  and adhering to the recommended procedure.

Mr Tyndall has asked the Welsh Government to check that all health boards are now complying with the guidance.

A helpline received 28 calls yesterday, of which eight women were ‘immediately reassured’.

BPAS not welcome in Ireland

The British Pregnancy Advisory Service BPAS wants to open abortion clinics in Ireland purportedly to make it easier for Irish women to access abortion and has issued a direct challenge to the Irish Government. 

In reality this is a cynical attempt by BPAS whose purpose in having abortion clinics in Ireland is clearly premised on the basis that easy access to abortion will increase business.

The business of killing babies is the most reprehensible of all businesses and it is big business, multi million euro business. The pretence of caring for women who are trying to come to terms with the predicament of an unexpected pregnancy  and the pretence that they are about helping women, is not only pitiless it is actually an uncaring and a ruthless pursuit of profit.

The entire business is built on a tissue of lies which have to be confronted, lies such as telling women its only a ‘blob of tissue’ when they know full well there is another human being present and of course the greatest lie of all is that killing a baby in the womb is a legitimate moral ‘choice’ that women can make.

The Journal reports as follows:    

THE LARGEST PROVIDER of abortions in Britain has told the Irish government to ‘stop washing its hands’ of women who travel abroad for an abortion.

The British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) has taken out an advertisement in The Irish Times newspaper today with the provocative slogan “We’ll care for your women until your government does”.

The organisation, which says it has treated ‘many thousands of women from Ireland’ over the past thirty years, says women from Ireland who have abortions are being “wilfully ignored by the political establishment” and that the recent abortion legislation “will do nothing to help the women we see in our clinics every day”.

“The women we see from Ireland are just like those from England – but made more desperate by the financial and emotional cost of having to travel,” said Ann Furedi, the chief executive of BPAS.

BPAS said women from Ireland tend to have abortions later than average because they have to arrange travel and funding. The group said that almost one third of abortions for women from Ireland are carried out at 10 weeks and later, compared with just over a fifth of abortions for women from England.

The abortion provider said it had taken out the advertisement “in solidarity with the women who are denied legal, safe abortion in Ireland and those who campaign tirelessly for the legal change needed so women can access care at home”.

“No politician in a civilised country should force women to make a journey abroad for abortion care.” said Furedi. “The decision alone is a tough enough journey”.

The full  text of the advertisement reads:

    As if deciding to have an abortion wasn’t enough of a journey

    Almost 4,000 Irish women have to travel to Britain for help every year.

    We’ll care for your women until your government does

The most recent figures show that 3,982 women – an average of almost 11 per day –  gave addresses in the Republic of Ireland when attending British clinics and hospitals for an abortion last year. The actual figure is likely to be even higher as not all women give their real address.

Government ministers – including Justice Minister Alan Shatter – have said there will be no more abortion legislation in the lifetime of this government, following the passing of the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill earlier this year.

The current law allows for abortion to be carried out in Ireland only in cases of a real and substantial risk to the life of the mother.