Crisis Pregnancy Information Services.

Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 3 March 2005

Thursday, 3 March 2005

Ceisteanna (82, 83)

Liz McManus

Ceist:

81 Ms McManus asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children her views on the bogus pregnancy counselling agencies that are in operation in a number of locations around the country and which provide inaccurate and sometimes inflammatory information regarding abortion; her further views on the opinion of a person (details supplied), that nothing can be done to stop these agencies from operating; if she will consider developing legislation to require such agencies to apply for a licence to operate; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [7307/05]

Freagraí scríofa

Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children (Ms Harney)

Recent research commissioned and published by the Crisis Pregnancy Agency refers to the unworthy practices of so called rogue agencies. The reported behaviour of these agencies towards vulnerable women experiencing crisis pregnancies is objectionable and unprofessional; it shows that they are not focused on helping women. Indeed the research found that their tactics extended to lies, threats and misrepresentation, behaviour that should be brought to the attention of the Garda authorities.

While there are no plans to consider a regulated licensing system such as that proposed by the Deputy, a greater awareness amongst the public of the professional counselling services available from reputable crisis pregnancy agencies is an important step to counteracting the work of rogue agencies. The Positive Options campaign, developed by the Crisis Pregnancy Agency, CPA, in 2002, is one such major information programme that has been promoting support services in crisis pregnancy. The focus of the campaign is to make women more aware of their options, should they have a crisis pregnancy, and to improve the supports and assistance available to women in this situation.

Initiatives undertaken as part of the campaign have included a text message information service, wallet card, posters, website and television advertisements. Last year the CPA achieved the national dissemination of 250,000 leaflets, 250,000 cards and 10,000 posters to key points such as GP surgeries, family planning clinics, pharmacies, libraries, schools and citizens information centres. The Positive Options website received 1,000 hits per month in 2004, which is a measure of the response to this information campaign. My Department is monitoring the impact of this extensive information campaign.

Furthermore, the CPA is sponsoring consumer tips in the Dublin Golden Pages to promote the use of trustworthy counselling services. It has also placed advertisements with the national and regional Golden Pages directories. The CPA has also written to all crisis pregnancy counselling agencies requesting them to monitor complaints against rogue agencies.

Liz McManus

Ceist:

82 Ms McManus asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children if her attention has been drawn to the fact that all of the nine agencies funded by the Crisis Pregnancy Agency now provide information on all three options facing women with a crisis pregnancy; if she has satisfied herself that even those agencies which are publicly anti-abortion are in a position to provide accurate and impartial information on abortion as an option; if she is satisfied further that standards exist across all of these publicly funded agencies to ensure that the information they provide in relation to all of the options is accurate and useful to women in crisis pregnancy; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [7308/05]

Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children (Ms Harney)

The Crisis Pregnancy Agency, CPA, has informed me that the nine agencies participating in the Positive Options campaign provide counselling on abortion; but some do not provide information likely to be necessary in order for a woman to avail of pregnancy termination services. The CPA is compiling a manual of good practice for crisis pregnancy counsellors in conjunction with crisis pregnancy counselling agencies. The CPA has informed me that referrals by agencies which do not provide information on pregnancy termination services, to crisis pregnancy agencies that do, will be addressed in this manual.

The CPA launched its strategy to address crisis pregnancy in late 2003. The CPA acknowledges in this document that crisis pregnancy counselling has the potential to provide women with standardised information on supports available to them. The Agency aims to review the type of information available to women in crisis pregnancy counselling through this strategy, in order to set and maintain high standards. It has commissioned a number of research studies into the provision of crisis pregnancy counselling. The need to develop a training module for crisis pregnancy counsellors to provide counselling up to an agreed quality standard has also been identified. This module is being provided and it will be used by all State funded organisations that offer crisis pregnancy counselling. Its objectives are to ensure that women seeking counselling receive a minimum standard of care including the provision of accurate information.

I welcome the initiatives taken by the CPA to further enhance and standardise crisis pregnancy counselling services provided by agencies.