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All GPs would regard the need to terminate a pregnancy as a failure of family planning.
IT’S ESTIMATED THAT around 1,500 abortion pills are used on the island of Ireland each year, or around 5 pills a day.
That figure is based on a study conducted on women in Northern Ireland and the Republic, the number of seizures of abortion pills, and the number of pills ordered by women from online providers.
In the same survey, of the 1,000 women on the island of Ireland who bought abortion pills online, around 10% reported experiencing side effects after taking the medication.
(To be clear, these are pills that are illegal in Ireland because of our abortion laws, but are considered medically safe. One of the pills, misoprostol is listed on the World Health Organisation’s list of Essential Medicines.)
In that same group, 0.7% required a blood transfusion, 2.6% required antibiotics, and overall 9.3% experienced symptoms potentially requiring medical attention. There were no deaths.
In cases where women have taken abortion pills to end their pregnancy and experience side effects, there’s a danger that they will be slow to report those problems.
In its submission to the Oireachtas Committee on the Eighth Amendment, the Irish College of General Practitioners, the organisation said:
The ICGP understands that an increasing proportion of women will purchase online hormonal abortifacient medications.
In these instances, it may or may not become known to their GP in subsequent consultations.
“There is clearly increased use of ‘illegal abortifacients’ both from anecdotal evidence from GPs, objective measures such as customs seizures, and a recent paper which suggests that 5,560 women requested abortion pills between 1 January 2010 and 31 December 2015.”
It also said that “women who use abortion pills ordered online may fear presenting to
Irish health services if they develop problems”.
Speaking to TheJournal.ie, two GPs shared their experiences of treating women who had taken abortion pills, saying that despite the pills being illegal, the process from a medical point of view was straightforward.
“The medical part is simple,” said Dr Brendan O’Shea, who runs a large practice in Co Kildare and has been practicing medicine for 30 years.
“From a medical perspective, [our aim is] to understand what’s happened.
“We do a clinical evaluation of the severity of the pain, check pulse and blood pressure, see if there’s a real active risk of hemorrhage or not, and you do all that in 10 minutes.”
When asked whether it’s easy to evaluate this, as women might underplay symptoms or be reluctant to share them given they’ve taken a medicine that’s illegal in Ireland, Dr O’Shea was clear:
“As a GP, part of our skills set is to deal with uncertainty – we know our patient very well, so we’ve a greater probability of getting relevant details than a hospital’s emergency department.”
Dublin-based GP Dr Mark Murphy said that the abortion pill is “very effective”, so medical intervention after the pill is taken is only needed in “unusual circumstances”.
“For most women it just works and that’s it,” he said.
In cases where there are side effects or complications of some kind, Murphy said that women “may not go to their GP” and instead “might go directly to the emergency department”.
Dr Murphy, who is part of the Together for Yes campaign, says that people are generally comfortable telling their GP about their health concerns because a GP would most likely be familiar with their patients’ medical history.
They’d be more nervous telling a doctor they don’t know. Oftentimes [at an emergency department] they might say they’re miscarrying. That’s clearly not ideal.
Abortion pills can be taken up to 10-12 weeks of the pregnancy, meaning that in the event of a ‘repeal’ vote in the upcoming referendum, the majority of terminations would be carried out through taking a pill.
Although it’s difficult to discern exactly how many abortion pills are ordered online by women in Ireland each year, it’s considered that that number is increasing.
“The number of people travelling to the UK for terminations is in decline, and although this is partly linked to an increase in contraception-use, it’s also linked to an increase in the use of abortion pills in Ireland,” Murphy says.
O’Shea says on the subject of abortion, all GPs would view the need for a pregnancy termination as “a failure of family planning”.
The view that the Eighth Amendment reduces that is simply not the case.
He says that what will reduce the rate of abortions and unplanned pregnancies in the country is more effective messages on contraception.
“The programme of legislation is definitely part of the answer to that question, but this time round we need to be more forward-looking, need to increase family planning services, and remove the remaining barriers, such as cost.”
We seem to be obsessed with legal experts, scientists, gynecologists, hospitals, and are making people take frightful risks with their own sexuality.
This is like the seatbelt issue – we sorted seatbelts when we started to place responsibility on dangerous drivers. Hundreds of thousands engage in sexual activity, you have the service supply but you also need a stronger public service campaign.
In response to the calls for a more robust contraception and sexual education campaign, the Department of Health directed us to a speech by Minister Simon Harris.
In it, he announced that the country’s National Sexual Health Strategy 2015-2020 would be updated based on the recommendations of the Oireachtas Committee on the Eighth Amendment’s ancillary recommendations.
The three-year programme will include:
He also pledged to increase the distribution of condoms and information about safer sex behaviours.
The government recently announced it would review sexual education at primary and secondary level; and also that it would look at making the morning after pill free of charge (although this ran into complications this week).
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The “charity begins at home” brigade are out in force. Charity doesn’t begin at home, it begins with whoever is the worst off.
Well said Neal Ireland. These people are so much worse off than those needing help here in Ireland. In the grand scheme of things €1.9 million isn’t huge money here but will make a huge difference in places like Sudan.
The original meaning of “Charity begins at home” has unfortunately been lost…
Spending the money in Ireland. Stop taking medical cards from the needy, reduce the closure of the Rape Crisis Centres, fund the necessary community organisations and get the homeless off the Street. There you go well spent and went a long way to providing the necessary. It’s good to be seen given Foreign Aid while our little country perishes at the hands of idiot Governments.
Do you honestly think that if we didn’t send this money to Sudan that even one penny of it would go towards any of the things you listed? How anybody can begrudge this vital support is beyond me.
Perishes? Overdramatic.
What about spending the money on our homeless people instead of giving it to other countries
What about spending money on teaching punctuation to sinn féinners ?
A psychologist friend of mine suggested that Patrick has a small manhood, hence his behaviour. The Popeye sailor man would also suggest his attraction to sailors and his fear to come out of the closet.
That’s correct. I read an article before that forum trolls either have tiny johnsons or can’t get them up for very long. The frustration leads them to lash out online in anger at the world. Great to study however.
While we’re being pedantic about punctuation, there’s no space between a word and a question mark. Practice what you preach.
Debbie, there should not, there was not but there is. Why? I do not know.
corrupt government will prob take 3.9 million of that
Mathematics and mé féiners do not seem to mix.
Apologies Patrick, I meant 1.9 million.
Its not direct government aid so hopefully the government of South Sudan won’t be able to get their hands on it because NGO’s such as the red cross do lifesaving work in these places. For those that say charity starts at home it doesn’t, charity is for those who need it most. It shouldn’t just be Ireland looking after the Irish it should be everyone helping the less fortunate/needy. Take for example the article during the week about the Irish funded heart surgery team sent to the Ukraine providing vital lifesaving operations for children. That article was well received without anyone suggesting the money should be used at home so what’s the difference here? The aid here is needed more urgently also. (I’m aware that the surgical team were funded through a charitable organization but one which, no doubt, receives a grant from the government)
We should all give we will never have to look out our window and see that devastation were talking roughly the population of Ireland on the brink of starvation here get a grip and donate.
We had our own famines and we still love to cry about it. We are different to other peoples, sure everybody loves the Irish Olé Olé Olé. Let other starving people bugger off. Do they not realise the price of a pint in Ireland?
The NGOs who get this money will spend the bulk of it on air conditioned cars, air conditioned rooms and the same food they get at home so that they live like they’re at home. Unfortunately this is a waste of money.
Wonder where all the oil money is going
Throw it in the Liffey be better off them government will get there greedy MIT’s on it and that will be it . money never gets to them . that’s why the problem will never ever get sorted.
I am in no way opposed to Ugandan’s receiving aid and I know the situation is dire over there but why is our government so quick to send money overseas and not think about using that money for our own homeless people. I just don’t get it. In Brazil the poor and needy are getting beaten off the streets so travelling football fans don’t have to see them. Does the media care about that? But luckily they’ve got Bill Gates over there to vaccinate everyone in the middle of another US proxy war.
Media very select in its reporting
The government are signed up to give millions to Africa every year. Something in the region of 236 million I think.
I notice there’s a general trend in being pro-aid and against those who would rather keep that money here but if you look at how aid is administered by Aid organisations in third world countries then you would see that the money is never used effectively, however that 2 million could change a lot if used properly in our black spots within out capital and across Ireland. Hence charity does start at home if the resources are best utilised here
50 cent each …sound :-)
Is there any country in Africa with a stable government…Christ!!!
*facepalm*
5 cent each…. sound :-)
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