Botched Legal Abortion Kills Woman From Ireland, Abortion Activists Blame Something Else

International   |   Micaiah Bilger   |   Oct 12, 2017   |   6:06PM   |   Dublin, Ireland

Abortion activists are trying to manipulate a woman’s tragic abortion death in an attempt to push Ireland to legalize abortion on demand.

The unnamed Irish woman died several years ago during her travel home after having a botched, legal abortion in the United Kingdom, according to the head of the Rotunda Hospital in Dublin, Ireland, The Journal reports.

Women sometimes travel from Ireland to the UK for an abortion because Ireland’s Eighth Amendment protects unborn babies’ right to life. However, abortion activists and some of the world’s richest men have been pushing the pro-life country to repeal the Eighth Amendment and legalize abortion on demand.

On Wednesday, the Committee on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution at Leinster House heard testimony from Fergal Malone, head of the Rotunda maternity hospital.

“We have had a woman die, die from Ireland who traveled to the United Kingdom for pregnancy termination on her way back from a complication of the procedure,” Malone told the committee. “So we can’t care for these people who make that decision in the way we would want to care for them.”

Malone used the woman’s death – from a legal abortion in the UK – as an example of why abortion should be legal in Ireland. He claimed that forcing women to travel for abortions puts their lives at risk.

Here’s more from the report:

He said, that in the case of women who choose to terminate their pregnancy, the hospital cannot make direct referrals.

“Patients who choose this course of action are supported to within the limits of Irish legislation,” he said.

Malone continued to say that a journey abroad for a termination in such circumstances is “clearly associated with significant additional challenges for patients, including travelling for healthcare to an unfamiliar city with no family support, significant financial costs, typically €800 to €1500, not including travel costs”, together with the “significant distress associated with leaving their baby’s remains in another country”.

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Malone argued, “Risks associated with travelling for pregnancy termination include infection or haemorrhage which has tragically resulted in the death of one of our patients when travelling to the United Kingdom.”

These are common risks of abortion, and traveling is not the problem. The abortion is. And legalizing it in Ireland will not reduce the risks. The woman who died had a legal abortion in England. She died as a result of the abortion, not Ireland’s pro-life laws. Legalizing abortion in Ireland will not make it safer for women and certainly not for unborn babies.

Ireland is not forcing women to travel, either. Women choose to travel to have their unborn babies aborted. What’s more, Ireland has some of the lowest maternal mortality rates in the world, lower than many countries where abortion is legal and readily available.

Legalizing abortion in Ireland will only cause more women and children to suffer and die. Pro-lifers estimate that the Eighth Amendment has saved approximately 100,000 unborn babies’ lives from abortion in Ireland.

Polls indicate Irish voters do not want abortion on demand. A new poll by the Irish Times/Iposos MRBI found that 24 percent said they would support a referendum to repeal the Eighth Amendment and legalize abortion for any reason up to 22 weeks of pregnancy.

The wording echoes a Citizens’ Assembly recommendation to allow abortions for any reason up to 12 weeks and up to 22 weeks for “socioeconomic” reasons, which basically means any reason. Their proposal also would legalize abortions up until birth in cases of fatal fetal anomalies, The Journal reports.

However, there is some support for a limited legalization of abortion. According to the poll, 57 percent of voters would support a referendum to legalize abortions in cases of rape, fatal fetal anomalies or threats to the mother’s life.

In September, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar announced that a referendum vote on abortion will be held in May or June of 2018.

The vote is scheduled just prior to Pope Francis’s visit to Ireland for the World Meeting of Families. Abortion activists are afraid that the Catholic leader’s visit could influence voters to support unborn babies’ right to life.