Breda O'Brien: If we’re going to listen to women, we need to listen to all women

Listen to women. Trust women. Women must be heard. These slogans were the cornerstone of the 2018 Repeal campaign. Yet powerful people seem unwilling to listen to one group of women – those who had an initial consultation for an abortion but decided to keep their babies during the mandatory three-day wait.Marie O’Shea, who conducted the abortion legislation three-year review, carried out qualitative interviews with three women who chose abortion; six abortion-providing GPs, 16 hospital providers, and nine senior HSE/Department of Health officials. She also attended the Southern Taskforce for Abortion and Reproductive Topics annual conference, then representing 300 abortion providers. But she did not conduct even one interview with a woman who did not proceed to abortion. Nor did she include an examination of HSE Primary Care Reimbursement Service figures obtained by Carol Nolan TD, which indicate that between 17 and 19 per cent of women do not return after a first consultation every year. READ MOREO’Shea still recommended abolishing the three-day wait.She relied on IFPA data and the HSE-commissioned Unplanned Pregnancy and Abortion Care qualitative study that interviewed 58 women, none of whom chose to keep her baby. The Irish Family Planning Association (IFPA) asserts that only 2 per cent of its clients do not proceed to abortion, a conclusion not borne out by its own non-peer-reviewed data. Its figures surprisingly exclude the 104 people it recorded (4.3 per cent of 2,390 first consultations) who did not return after their first appointment. This group would seem to me the most likely to have had their babies. Adjusting for approximately 98 women who miscarried, had ectopic pregnancies or had negative pregnancy tests, the true figure is that roughly six per cent are not recorded as having accessed abortion care (2,146 of about 2,290). IFPA estimates are at least 11 per cent lower than the HSE statistics mentioned above, an unexplained discrepancy. Several women who kept their babies formally requested to speak to the Joint Health Committee conducting pre-legislative scrutiny of the Sinn Féin Bill to abolish the three-day wait. The committee decided to hear only from clinicians.It had emerged at a previous committee hearing that the Irish College of General Practitioners representatives had not consulted with their membership, of whom 90 per cent do not provide abortion services, before recommending removal of the reflection period.As a result, Fine Gael TD and health committee member, Colm Burke – who voted for Repeal – and other members, believed the committee should hear from GPs providing abortion who support the three-day wait. A doctor was identified and was willing to testify, but because that happened outside an arbitrarily imposed and restrictive window from 4.30pm one day until 9.30am the next, was not allowed to be heard. Instead, an extra committee session was organised to hear from two pro-life doctors. The way some legislators treated Dr Kirsten Fuller and Dr Andrew O’Regan, compared to other witnesses, was jarring and, in my view, disrespectful. The Pro-Life Campaign organised a briefing for politicians to give a voice to the women whom the committee had refused to hear.One little blonde-haired two-year-old nearly stole the show. He held up his arms to his mammy as she spoke. She expertly juggled her toddler, a microphone and a script as she explained what she faced when she discovered she was pregnant with him. She was having problems with her partner. They were living in a mobile home. They already had two children, and she was also studying for a master’s. She had voted for Repeal. She just wanted the problem taken away, but was also conflicted.She was crying when she rang the My Options helpline, but she says all she received were contact details for abortion providers. No one suggested she consider other choices. “Lauryn” (a pseudonym) said that if there had not been a three-day wait, she would have taken the pills there and then. Today, she and her partner cannot imagine life without their third child. She completed her master’s three weeks before giving birth.“Meg” (another pseudonym) also voted for Repeal. She was very young when she discovered she was pregnant. Meg felt My Options was only steering her to abortion providers, which was presented as “a simple and routine solution”. She was shocked to discover she would have to wait three days. Those three days changed her life so much for the better. She thought pregnancy would mean her life was over, but instead, it motivated her to succeed both for herself and her daughter. All the women’s testimonies confirmed that mandatory waiting periods protect the essential time needed in a way that voluntary waiting periods do not. Removing the three-day wait will almost certainly increase the already shocking figures of nearly 60,000 abortions to date. Bizarrely, Michéal Martin and Simon Harris supported the Sinn Féin Bill, while the majority of their party TDs voted against it.I suspect this Bill is seriously out of kilter with public opinion, but voters need to let their TDs know that, firmly but respectfully. Whatever way you voted on abortion, my guess is that you did not vote for some women’s voices to be ignored.