I thank the Chairman, Deputies and Senators for inviting Choice Ireland to discuss the issues surrounding rogue crisis pregnancy agencies.
A crisis pregnancy is defined as a pregnancy which is neither planned nor desired by the woman concerned, and which represents a personal crisis for her. The Crisis Pregnancy Agency, which was set up by the Government, is charged with helping and supporting women in this difficult situation. This body recognises that crisis pregnancy counselling is a key support for women in this difficult situation. Crisis pregnancy counselling in Ireland is currently provided by a number of agencies, which can be divided broadly into three groups: two option agencies, which provide information to women in crisis pregnancy on adoption and parenting; three option agencies, which provide information to women in crisis pregnancy on adoption, parenting and abortion; and a third group, which while it provides information to women in crisis pregnancy, rather than providing it in an objective and non-judgmental ethical fashion like the first two types of agencies, it frequently uses lies, intimidation, bullying, delaying tactics, breaches of confidentiality, provision of false information and such tactics to specifically sway a woman away from terminating a pregnancy. The key difference is that the two and three option agencies exist more as a sounding board and are non-judgmental and non-directive, whereas rogue agencies are those which aim to pressure a woman in a crisis pregnancy to make a particular decision.
A number of tactics used by these agencies has been identified. They use misleading advertising. They often suggest that they will provide referrals directly to agencies providing abortions, and referrals to family planning services, which they do not. They also suggest that they will provide ultrasound services, which often they do not. They also use graphic videos and images showing abortion procedures, instruments and pictures of foetal remains, which can be very distressing for women in crisis pregnancy. A key tactic they often use to intimidate women to convince them not to terminate a pregnancy is to give them false medical information regarding the potential consequences of abortion.
During my personal investigation of these agencies, I was told that were I to terminate a pregnancy I would be statistically more likely to abuse any children I might have in the future. I was also told that I would be more likely to become sterile due to organ perforation or infection following the termination procedure. I was told that I would be four times more likely to contract breast cancer throughout my lifetime if I terminated the pregnancy, but that if I continued with the pregnancy, I would be protected from breast cancer for the rest of my life. I was told that I was much more likely to open my family up to congenital depression and alcoholism. Such agencies give false medical information that intimidates women not to make a particular decision.
They also tend to communicate inaccurate information regarding the procedures women need to go through to terminate a pregnancy. They advise women that they can cannot be referred for a abortion until eight or 12 weeks post-conception, which delays the process for them. They also refer women for an unnecessary ultrasound, which delays them further before they can make contact with appropriate services. There is also a history of these agencies breaching confidentiality. They contact women's family and friends, and clinics with which women have made appointments, and inform them that the woman concerned is considering having an abortion, which is a huge breach of confidentiality by health care professionals.
We do not know how many women are affected by these agencies every year. We know there are agencies operating in a number of major cities and that they operate outreach agencies where women have been asked to meet rogue crisis pregnancy counsellors in car parks, hotels and other odd locations. From research carried out by the Crisis Pregnancy Agency, we know that 8.6% of women surveyed had come in contact with rogue crisis pregnancy agencies, which suggests that approximately 4,000 women a year are affected by contact with these rogue agencies. We know that one agency, which was at the centre of the baby A adoption scandal, reported seeing 2,000 women between 1994 and 1999. The Crisis Pregnancy Agency has said that, for the most part, women who come in contact with these agencies are not referred on to appropriate services. Therefore, many of these women and their experiences are lost through such contact with these agencies. We are not too sure how widespread the problem is.
Choice Ireland calls for a two-pronged approach to tackling these agencies. First, we seek the regulation of clinics. The recent patient safety report provides for a mandatory licensing system in Ireland to cover both public and private health care providers, which would oblige health care providers to meet the standards and practices of ethics mandated by their professional bodies. We hope these guidelines could be extended to people offering crisis pregnancy counselling. We also call for a crisis pregnancy agency to be subject to monitoring to ensure compliance with these standards. We would also like to see changes in the way crisis pregnancy agencies are allowed to advertise. Many of these agencies advertise themselves in a particular way that suggests they provide abortion information to women.
There have been a number of international cases where the issue of rogue crisis pregnancy agencies have been tackled through the use of very simple legislation. For example, the city of Baltimore on 16 November passed a city ordnance whereby anyone offering crisis pregnancy counselling who does not provide referrals or information regarding determination services or family planning services must clearly post a notice to this effect in their waiting rooms or outside in both English and Spanish. We in Choice Ireland call on the Government to introduce legislation ensuring that agencies providing crisis pregnancy counselling are governed by ethical guidelines similar to those governing other health care services. We also call on it to ensure that all agencies must advise potential clients of information on abortion services, must advise potential clients that they do not provide information on abortion services, as described under the 1995 Act, and that agencies that do not provide abortion information are clearly labelled.
