Freedom of Disinformation
Anti abortion groups are masquerading as crisis pregnancy agencies in order to promote their agenda through the manipulation of women, according to a new report by Human Rights Watch.
Valerie Flynn, 16 Feb 2010
“I checked in the Golden Pages and there was the first advert, called British Alternatives. I was very devastated that I was in this situation [crisis pregnancy] and I was afraid of getting a doctor who was unsympathetic. I called them and told them I wanted an abortion and I needed to know how far along I was. They made an appointment for Saturday... the woman started to ask about adoption – I wanted to leave but didn’t feel that I could. She then put a video on for me and she left the room, it was ultrasound pictures and pictures of mothers. Then she came back and she put a model of a small foetus in my hand... told me to name my baby, asked me how I would feel if I killed the baby.”
Claire (29), whose surname is withheld to protect her identity, is one of many Irish women who have come into contact with unregulated crisis pregnancy agencies which manipulate women and promote an extreme anti-abortion agenda.
Her story is among a number of accounts of ‘rogue’ crisis pregnancy agencies contained in a hard-hitting new report on abortion and abortion information in Ireland by international watchdog Human Rights Watch (HRW).
Another woman, also called Claire, reported that the agency she attended “harassed me for a few weeks – they called every couple of days... I stopped answering withheld numbers. They would ask, ‘Is your baby still alive? Have you killed it yet?’”
Sinéad Ahern of pro-choice campaign group Choice Ireland went undercover to investigate what goes on at one such ‘rogue’ agency, the Abbey Women’s Centre at 50 Dorset Street. She pretended to be a 19-year-old student who was considering terminating her pregnancy.
Sinéad told Hot Press: “It looks like a normal GP’s surgery. It has a waiting room with three or four chairs in it, a radio on and leaflets around the place about everything from yeast infections to immunisation. There was one other woman in the waiting room when I came in and I was waiting about five or so minutes when another woman came out in floods of tears and ran onto Dorset Street. I was brought to a room in the basement of the building that had no windows, just a table, two chairs and a TV in the corner.”
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