CQC RELEASES DAMNING REPORT ON MARIE STOPES INTERNATIONAL:
The findings of the CQC’s damning report on ‘services’ provided at Marie Stopes International abortion centres in England were released on Tuesday 20th December 2016. The report contains disturbing revelations of what goes on behind the closed doors of Britain’s largest abortion provider.
The CQC’s report exposes the neglect and degrading treatment that countless women have been subjected to and the routine cruel and inhumane destruction and disposal of unborn children at these abortion centres.
Among other failings, staff failed to obtain informed consent from women seeking abortions at the centres. In one centre, doctors handled a consultation with a woman with a learning disability “poorly and insensitively” and failed to ensure she understood what abortion involved. Doctors were reported to have been “bulk signing” authorisation forms without having met the women seeking the abortions. Inspectors also found failings in infection control systems, with poor hand hygiene, and failures in following basic surgery checklists. Remains of aborted babies were left in “open hazardous waste bins”.
Professor Edward Baker, deputy chief inspector of hospitals at the CQC, stated that the CQC “will continue to monitor [Marie Stopes International’s] services very closely” and “will not hesitate to take further action” if necessary.
Bernadette Smyth, the director of Precious Life, the leading pro-life group in Northern Ireland, responded to the CQC’s findings:
“This report recently issued by the CQC shows loud and clear that women are being deceived and exploited by Marie Stopes International and their unborn babies are routinely destroyed.
“With regard to the Marie Stopes centre in Belfast, no one knows what goes on behind its closed doors. It is shrouded in darkness. When it first opened in October 2012, its representatives said that the centre would work closely with the Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority (RQIA).
“In August 2016, in light of the CQC’s concerns about the wellbeing and safety of women having abortions at Marie Stopes centres in England, Precious Life wrote to the RQIA and challenged them to inspect the dark and secretive ‘services’ of the Marie Stopes centre in Belfast. In its response, the RQIA said that it was awaiting the findings of the CQC’s report.
“Now that the CQC’s findings have been released, we are calling on the RQIA to take action. In the interests of protecting women and their unborn children, we are calling on the RQIA to ensure that women from Northern Ireland are not being referred to Marie Stopes in England or elsewhere to have abortions. Women deserve better than abortion. Women deserve better than Marie Stopes.”