Choice Ireland calls for regulation of crisis pregnancy counselling agencies.

dublin | rights, freedoms and repression | press release

Tuesday August 14, 2007 20:58

by Niav - Choice Ireland

choiceireland at gmail dot com

Choice Ireland

Press Release: Saturday 18th August 2007

Choice Ireland calls for regulation of crisis pregnancy counselling agencies.

As part of their ongoing campaign to highlight the issue of rogue crisis pregnancy counselling agencies, Choice Ireland has made a submission to the Law Reform Commission and will protest outside the Women’s Resource Centre on Saturday, 18th August 2007. Rogue crisis pregnancy counselling agencies advertise themselves as providers of legitimate pregnancy counselling services but they are known to use manipulative tactics, provide misleading information and intimidate women. The sole purpose of these agencies is to stop women from travelling outside the State to terminate a pregnancy.

Commenting Niav Keating said:

“Rogue crisis pregnancy agencies deliberately mislead women about the health risks associated with abortion. When Choice Ireland activists attended this agency, they were told that having an abortion would increase their risk of developing breast cancer, becoming an alcoholic and abusing children. These are blatant lies designed to scare vulnerable women in a crisis pregnancy situation”.

Commenting Sinead Ahearn said:

“At present, counselling services in Ireland are not regulated which means that any individual or group can establish a counselling service and this is an outrageous situation. We are calling on the government to bring forward statutory regulation for all pregnancy counselling services, prescribing minimum codes of practices and standards, to ensure that they do not impart misleading and incorrect information”.

Quotes end.

This protest will take place outside the rogue agency which is known as both the Women's Resource Centre and British Alternatives Pregnancy Services on 50 Upper Dorset Street on Satuday 18th August at 12 pm.

For further information and comment:

Niav Keating 086 329 3741
Sinead Ahearn 086 398 3189

Choice Ireland is a diverse group of Pro-Choice activists campaigning for free, safe and legal abortion services in Ireland.