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PR: Protest at ICGP Publication
26.06.2004
Youth Defence are today conducting a protest outside the offices of the Irish College of General Practitioners (ICGP) on Lincoln Place, Dublin 2 at 1pm.
The protest is in response to a set of guidelines recently published by the ICGP in conjunction with the Crisis Pregnancy Agency, on how to manage crisis pregnancies. The report, entitled ‘Primary Care Guidelines for the Management of Crisis Pregnancies’ was written by Dr Ailis Ni Riain and Dr Rita Galimberti of the ICGP’s Woman’s Health Programme.
Youth Defence has a number of serious concerns regarding this disingenuous report. Firstly, we believe that abortion is the deliberate taking of the life of an unborn child and is always wrong. Everyone, born or unborn has an equal right to life. Human life should be respected and valued. It is not something that we can abuse, neglect or experiment on.
Secondly we support the view of four of the top Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in this country who “affirm that there are no medical circumstances justifying direct abortion, that is circumstances in which the life of a mother may only be saved by directly terminating the life of her unborn child”. We strongly suggest that doctors should channel their skills and energies into saving lives rather than resorting to the bad medicine of abortion.
Thirdly, we know that the abortion procedure carries clear hazards for a woman’s present and future health and can also affect her fertility. We have recently conducted extensive research into the area of women’s health after abortion and have found very disturbing results. Our investigations strengthened our already firmly held view that abortion causes serious physical and psychological complications to a mother including severe bleeding, pelvic inflammatory disease and even death. We also found evidence of the abortion-breast cancer link and would like to take note of the fact that of the 33 epidemiological studies conducted worldwide on abortion and breast cancer, 27 have established a link.
Finally, it is our certain belief that every woman contemplating abortion should be made aware of these dangers. For a woman to make a “truly informed choice” she needs to know that abortion carries risk factors for her health and her life.
We find the guidelines of the I.C.G.P. to be extremely disingenuous. The authors completely disregard the recent scientific evidence that clearly shows that abortion can cause serious complications for a woman. We know that these guidelines are to be distributed this Autumn. We forcefully request that they be withdrawn immediately as they are extremely biased and they do not fully deal with the serious after effects of induced abortion. Withholding this important information from them is not only ethically wrong and unprofessional but also downright dangerous.
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