DR EUNICE MINFORD DOES NOT SPEAK FOR WOMEN IN NORTHERN IRELAND
BBC NI are once again stoking the flames of the ‘abortion debate’ in Northern Ireland with an interview with a Northern Ireland surgeon who had an abortion fifteen years ago.
(See: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-36247831)
Dr Eunice Minford speaks to BBC NI Health Correspondent Marie-Louise Connolly and spouts untruths that make the reader wonder if she has shelved her white coat and qualifications and taken up a hand-painted placard and joined forces with Alliance for Choice.
The ‘Psychiatric Assessment’
Dr Minford believes it is “wrong and unacceptable” that pregnant women “have to be examined by a psychiatrist with a risk of being diagnosed with a mental health problem” before they can have an abortion. It is unclear whether she believes this happens in Northern Ireland or whether she is referring to abortion practice in Britain, but regardless of where she was referring to, ‘psychiatric assessments’ and a woman being “diagnosed as being mentally ill” simply does not happen.
Firstly, abortion is a criminal offence in Northern Ireland, and so, much like concerns about the absence of ‘a right to conscientious objection’ to performing an abortion here, Dr Minford’s concern that there is a burdensome need for a ‘psychiatric assessment’ before a woman can have an abortion is misplaced. Doctors have no need to raise a conscientious objection or to carry out psychiatric assessments. Doctors should not be breaking the law in the first place.
In Britain, however, a woman can obtain an abortion very easily. Under the Abortion Act 1967, an abortion can be legally carried out by a ‘registered medical practitioner’ but only when two registered medical practitioners are of the opinion, ‘formed in good faith’, that one or more of five conditions apply.
Approximately 98% of the 200,000 abortions carried out in England and Wales every year are performed under Ground C: that the pregnancy has not exceeded its twenty-fourth week and that the continuance of the pregnancy would involve risk, greater than if the pregnancy were terminated, of injury to the physical or mental health of the pregnant woman. 99.8% of those abortions are carried out specifically on the grounds of threat to the woman's mental health, rather than her physical health.
In July 2012, Andrew Lansley, the then Secretary of State for Health, without consultation and without informing Parliament, issued new interim abortion procedures to independent abortion providers which effectively got rid of the already unheeded requirement that two doctors examine the woman. As Dr Peter Saunders brought to light on his blog, the whole ‘abortion process’ can be carried out by nurses or other members of a multidisciplinary team who might not even have any medical or nursing training. [1] But two doctors will still add their signatures and tick a box on the HSA4 form, without ever seeing the woman and without any medical evidence of a risk to her mental health.
‘The Truth’
Dr Minford talks about ‘truth’ a lot in her interview. She hopes to inspire women to “claim what is true for them”, to “make a true choice”, and claims that what motivates her is her “love of God, of helping people and the truth”. But Dr Minford has no understanding of the truth.
The truth is that abortion is the direct and intentional killing of an unborn child. The truth is that abortion carries an increased risk of mental health problems, including depression, anxiety disorders, suicidal ideation, alcohol dependence and illicit drug dependence. [2]
In fact, over almost fifty years of legalised abortion in Britain there has been a consistent pattern in which higher abortion rates have run parallel to higher incidences of stillbirths, premature births, low birth-weight neonates, cerebral palsy, and maternal deaths as direct consequences of abortion.
In contrast, according to a research paper in 2012 by Byron Calhoun, John Thorp, and Patrick Carroll, both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland have displayed lower rates of all morbidities and mortality associated with legalised abortion.[3]
The truth is that women and their babies are safer in Ireland.
Women Deserve Better Than Abortion
Dr Eunice Minford does not speak for women in Northern Ireland and should be ashamed of herself for claiming that it is her “love of God” that motivates her to tell women that killing their unborn children is their key to happiness and empowerment.
Women deserve better than abortion. That is why Stanton Healthcare Belfast, a crisis pregnancy resource centre, is here to provide help to women facing unplanned pregnancies in Northern Ireland. They provide the best care and practical support a woman needs to overcome any obstacle to choosing life for her baby. They do everything that is needed for her and her child, not just for the nine months of pregnancy, but for as long as it is needed.
We look forward to hearing from Gemma Bradley from Every Life Counts NI tomorrow. Gemma’s unborn baby girl, Lily Rose, was diagnosed with Trisomy 18. Gemma is campaigning for better provision of perinatal hospice care services for other mothers and fathers whose unborn children have been diagnosed with life-limiting disabilities.
2. David Fergusson, L John Horwood and Joseph Boden, ‘Abortion and Mental Health Disorders: Evidence from a 30-Year Longitudinal Study’ (2008) 193 British Journal of Psychiatry 444.
3. Byron Calhoun, John Thorp and Patrick Carroll, ‘Maternal and Neonatal Health and Abortion: 40-Year Trends in Great Britain and Ireland’ (2012) http://www.jpands.org/vol18no2/calhoun.pdf