The Abortion Rights Campaign (ARC) calls on Health Minister, Stephen Donnelly, to act now on Rogue Crisis Pregnancy Agencies – a toxic hangover of the era of the 8th Amendment, which harm women and pregnant people in Ireland.
“Rogue Crisis Pregnancy Agencies are not new in Ireland, but remain an incredibly harmful barrier to factual information and real healthcare for pregnant people”, says Bernie Linnane of the Abortion Rights Campaign.
From ARC’s research, the majority of pregnant people who wish to access or consider abortion do not know where to go. This gap is deliberately exploited by agencies who masquerade as ‘options’ advisory services. One respondent to ARC’s research said “I went to get a pregnancy test and look at options but they only tried to talk me out of abortion and toward adoption”
The spread of misinformation on matters of health is of grave concern. Pregnant people seeking information and support must be afforded protection under the law.
The Department of Health has been aware of the actions of these agencies for over a decade, yet have consistently failed to act.
The Abortion Rights Campaign demands that Minister Donnelly act now to regulate the operation of Rogue Crisis Pregnancy Agencies.
—ENDS —
Notes:
The Abortion Rights Campaign will be holding a demonstration at the Dáil to mark the 10th Annual March for Choice on Saturday 25th September at 2pm.
The Abortion Rights Campaign recently launched a report into the experiences of those who have accessed abortion since 2019, available at https://www.abortionrightscampaign.ie/research/
For further comment or information:
www.facebook.com/abortionrightscampaign
Twitter: @freesafelegal
