Medical abortion to be made availible in the North.

Morag

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2012/1010/breaking57.html



Look like they got the go ahead to provide this service and they will be accepting clients from the Republic.

The first sexual and reproductive health centre to offer abortion services on the island of Ireland will open in Belfast next Thursday.

Marie Stopes Northern Ireland, based in purpose-built city centre premises on Great Victoria Street, will offer contraceptive options, HIV testing, STI testing and treatment, ultrasound scanning, and medical abortion up to nine weeks gestation.

Anyone over the age of 16 can access the centre, including people from the Republic, and services are available by appointment only. Marie Stopes International, which is a not-for-profit organisation, is the UK’s leading provider of sexual and reproductive healthcare services. It has been established for over 30 years, and works in 42 countries around the world.

It will be medical only which is the abortion pill and will not be for women who are beyond 9 weeks.

Following a consultation with the client, and a scan to confirm the existence of the pregnancy, the length of gestation, and any possible complications, two doctors will assess whether she is eligible for a termination. The cost for an early medical abortion - which is a non-surgical procedure - excluding the consultation fee, is £350.

The_Minister

£350 + consultation fee + bus/train to Belfast - I think the ladies of Ireland will stick to the MAP for a while yet when possible.

Morag

The_Minister wrote: »

£350 + consultation fee + bus/train to Belfast - I think the ladies of Ireland will stick to the MAP for a while yet when possible.

It's not the MAP.
It is what to seek out if the MAP fails, or you didn't know you were pregnant until you missed your period.

WesternNight

I was glad to hear this news. I just hope that it's not used as yet another reason to delay (even further) legislation in the Republic.

jam_mac_jam

This is brilliant news. It will make it much easier if you need it then having to travel overseas. I think people have enough to worry about at that time then having to take a plane or boat, will make it much better.

Das Kitty

Brilliant news.

Great to see Irish women won't need to go through an invasive procedure any more if they know early enough.

Lingua Franca

I'm so glad to see this. Surprised! but happy.

Stheno

Glad too, very surprised to see it introduced.

I'd hope it would give our government a prod in the right direction.

Truley

Fantastic news. Will take away unnecessary stress (and risk) from women having to travel abroad.

eviltwin

This is just brilliant. Its a shame the limit is only 9 weeks, I hope that it doesn't result in some women rushing into a decision they later regret but its fantastic women won't have to go through the trauma of going overseas. Hopefully in time the limit is relaxed.

Annabella1

I can see half a dozen of these in Newry soon as I'm sure the uptake will be high.
It's only a matter of time before surgical abortions will be performed..

LittleBook

eviltwin wrote: »

This is just brilliant. Its a shame the limit is only 9 weeks, I hope that it doesn't result in some women rushing into a decision they later regret but its fantastic women won't have to go through the trauma of going overseas. Hopefully in time the limit is relaxed.

The limits are the legal limits for abortion in Northern Ireland.

The 1967 [UK] Abortion Act does not extend to Northern Ireland. In the north abortions can only be carried out in cases where the life of the pregnant woman is at immediate risk or if there is a long term or permanent risk to her physical or mental health. Within the current legal framework, the provision of early medical abortion is only available.

It's still good news but the limits won't change.

Princess Peach

While it is good news, I hope the services will soon be available at more than the 1 clinic. With such a short time frame I hope clients don't have long to wait for an appointment.

seamus

It would be worth the pro-choice campaigners down south speaking to Marie Stopes and asking them to collect detailed statistics on the residency of women who attend the clinic.

Nothing like some cold hard figures to paint the reality to the government.

Morag

They collate those stats as a mater of course, same as they do at their clinics in the UK,
but that will be information given by women, if they choose to give an address in NI then that is what is recorded.

krudler

seamus wrote: »

It would be worth the pro-choice campaigners down south speaking to Marie Stopes and asking them to collect detailed statistics on the residency of women who attend the clinic.

Nothing like some cold hard figures to paint the reality to the government.

Isnt it 12 women a day on average that go to the UK for abortions? The government know well about it, but wont do anything about it for the fear of risking votes. Irish women have abortions every day, just not in Ireland.

awec

This post has been deleted.

MagicSean

awec wrote: »

Pathetic on behalf of irish politicians.

Hardly surprising. The vast majority of politicians are male. This subject has been made a woman only topic by many pro choice campaigns. Even Boards.ie has relegated all discussion to this forum. With such an adversarial approach to the topic I can't see how it can be expected that male politicians will take notice.

And while this latest development is may be good for women seeking a termination I can see it delaying any progress in Ireland towards proper implementation of the EU rulings in Ireland, perhaps even setting it back a step.

Ickle Magoo

Given it was male politicians blatantly standing in the way of base democracy in order to prevent legislation being enacted based on previous referendum by both male and female voters - I think the whole "it's been made a female issue" is a complete red-herring.

This is the Ladies Lounge - it's being discussed here for obvious reasons. There is no Boards conspiracy to ONLY have discussion here.

Morag

MagicSean wrote: »

Hardly surprising. The vast majority of politicians are male. This subject has been made a woman only topic by many pro choice campaigns. Even Boards.ie has relegated all discussion to this forum. With such an adversarial approach to the topic I can't see how it can be expected that male politicians will take notice.

And while this latest development is may be good for women seeking a termination I can see it delaying any progress in Ireland towards proper implementation of the EU rulings in Ireland, perhaps even setting it back a step.

Well this is being discussed in the atheist forum the link was added to the abortion thread in there last night, so it's not only happening here.

I did try to start a parallel discussion in AH (which would have been a very different discussion) but as I had a thread it was closed as spam :rolleyes:
But there is nothing stopping you starting a thread on this in another forum be it politics, TGC or AH.

I don't see this as being an action which will cause delay, I can see it as being one which will be used to put more pressure on and to get more people out lobbying on this issue.

FairytaleGirl

I know im the stark minority here but I totally disagree with it. If youre not responsible enough to use contraception and fall pregnant tough. Give the baby up for adoption to the thousands of families who cant have their own.

By 9 weeks the `bunch of cells` has fingers,toes hand and feet prints and a nervous system.

This clinic will only encourage reckless sexual behaviour and irresponsibility.

You shouldnt be allowed to abort a baby because its not convieniet to your lifestyle etc. Give it up for adoption/be more responsible wih your contraception.

awec

This post has been deleted.

Morag

FairytaleGirl wrote: »

I know im the stark minority here but I totally disagree with it. If youre not responsible enough to use contraception and fall pregnant tough. Give the baby up for adoption to the thousands of families who cant have their own.

By 9 weeks the `bunch of cells` has fingers,toes hand and feet prints and a nervous system.

This clinic will only encourage reckless sexual behaviour and irresponsibility.

You shouldnt be allowed to abort a baby because its not convieniet to your lifestyle etc. Give it up for adoption/be more responsible wih your contraception.

You are totally entitled to your opinion on it, I just disagree with your stance on this. I wouldn't assume that all the posters here are pro choice, I do have friends who are anti abortion other then in the most dire circumstances.

coffee_cake

FairytaleGirl wrote: »

I know im the stark minority here but I totally disagree with it. If youre not responsible enough to use contraception and fall pregnant tough. Give the baby up for adoption to the thousands of families who cant have their own.

By 9 weeks the `bunch of cells` has fingers,toes hand and feet prints and a nervous system.

This clinic will only encourage reckless sexual behaviour and irresponsibility.

You shouldnt be allowed to abort a baby because its not convieniet to your lifestyle etc. Give it up for adoption/be more responsible wih your contraception.

Contraception fails, however careful you are.
I'm amused that someone you deem very irresponsible should be "punished" by being made responsible for a baby. That's good logic
By the way - can't adopt out if you're married. And no, not all married people are in a position to have a child.

meeeeh

seamus wrote: »

It would be worth the pro-choice campaigners down south speaking to Marie Stopes and asking them to collect detailed statistics on the residency of women who attend the clinic.

Nothing like some cold hard figures to paint the reality to the government.

Actually the best statistic is the one which shoves that better availability of abortion does not increase the uptake in general. Where I come from abortion is covered by medical insurance and free (a minister that suggested women should pay for the second abortion, had to pack his bags because of it) but what is more important the number of women having the abortion is falling. (about 20000 in 1981 and about 6000 in 2005, I'm too lazy to look for fresher statistics). Which just proves that the best anti abortion strategy is not making women to jump through hoops to get one but to have good sexual education and easy availability of contraception.

I don't think numbers of women that will take up the option are as important as is the quality and ease of service. But while this is welcome, people that need the surgical procedure still need to travel. And especially women having late abortions for medical reasons are unnecessarily placed into danger. This makes early termination more convenient but it does nothing towards solving the problem in the Republic.

Malari

FairytaleGirl wrote: »

I know im the stark minority here but I totally disagree with it. If youre not responsible enough to use contraception and fall pregnant tough. Give the baby up for adoption to the thousands of families who cant have their own.

By 9 weeks the `bunch of cells` has fingers,toes hand and feet prints and a nervous system.

This clinic will only encourage reckless sexual behaviour and irresponsibility.

You shouldnt be allowed to abort a baby because its not convieniet to your lifestyle etc. Give it up for adoption/be more responsible wih your contraception.

There are women who just don't want to be pregnant, it's not just about not wanting a baby. And contraception failures just happens sometimes through no fault of the user.

I accept you don't think a lifestyle choice is enough of a reason to abort but I disagree with you.

eviltwin

FairytaleGirl wrote: »

I know im the stark minority here but I totally disagree with it. If youre not responsible enough to use contraception and fall pregnant tough. Give the baby up for adoption to the thousands of families who cant have their own.

By 9 weeks the `bunch of cells` has fingers,toes hand and feet prints and a nervous system.

This clinic will only encourage reckless sexual behaviour and irresponsibility.

You shouldnt be allowed to abort a baby because its not convieniet to your lifestyle etc. Give it up for adoption/be more responsible wih your contraception.

Thats's your view on it and you are entitled to it but abortion is just another choice. Women can still choose to keep their babies or put them up for adoption - if they are single. A woman who chooses to have an abortion though should be free to do that without being made to feel bad about it.

meeeeh

FairytaleGirl wrote: »

I know im the stark minority here but I totally disagree with it. If youre not responsible enough to use contraception and fall pregnant tough. Give the baby up for adoption to the thousands of families who cant have their own.

By 9 weeks the `bunch of cells` has fingers,toes hand and feet prints and a nervous system.

This clinic will only encourage reckless sexual behaviour and irresponsibility.

You shouldnt be allowed to abort a baby because its not convieniet to your lifestyle etc. Give it up for adoption/be more responsible wih your contraception.

You can disagree with it if you want to. But unless you succeed in persuading the wast majority of other European countries to adopt your point of view, you are not "saving" little babies, you are just making women who have abortions to suffer unnecessarily even more. But I guess that is punishment for being irresponsible. :rolleyes:

BTW I didn't have an abortion but I did have three misscarriages (all procedures) and they are anything but convenient.

Ickle Magoo

As both a woman who had pregnancies which took a horrendous physical toll on my body, some of which I'll have to live with for the rest of my life and and adoptee, I find the adoption panacea which always gets trotted out in these discussions highlighting its own ignorances/thoughtlessness.

There is no easy fix to unwanted pregnancies - they will happen and women will deal with them regardless of the legislation this little island chooses to enact, especially when there's a country so close and handy to ship the issue off too.

mike65

I was listening to the director of the clinic and she said the is no time limit, only medical definitions to decide if an abortion is justified.

As for the clinic and its effect in the Republic, almost certainly if this gets the go-ahead it will be considered a convenient "all Ireland" facility by the State and so no need to change anything here.

Morag

mike65 wrote: »

I was listening to the director of the clinic and she said the is no time limit, only medical definitions to decide on whether an abortion is justified.

As for the clinic and its effect in the Republic, almost certainly if this gets the go-ahead it will be considered a convenient "all Ireland" facility by the State and so no need to change anything here.

The clinic won't be doing surgical abortions and it won't deal with terminations for medical reasons, so it's not a fix and it's not a reason to stop lobbying, if anything it's broken that daft notion that there is no abortion in the Island of Ireland completely.