A pro-abortion lobby group in Northern Ireland which produced a leaflet advising women not to tell doctors they have taken an abortion pill if they develop complications, has been described as “reckless” by a retired doctor.
The leaflet, distributed by Alliance for Choice in Derry, told women “you can access health care at your local A&E, but do not tell them you have used the pills. Just say you are having a miscarriage.”
The former GP and recently elected councillor for the Aontu party, Anne McCloskey criticised this advice saying: “The only way we can treat people effectively is if we know what is going on…It is reckless to tell women who have taken abortion pills to deliberately withhold information from doctors.”
She said that it was an “insult” to suggest that doctors will make value judgements on a patient. Health care professionals do not judge patients but she emphasised how important it was that doctors were in possession of all the relevant medical information in order to be able to treat their patients properly.
“[N]o matter who comes for treatment, they will get the best the NHS can offer them to treat them,” McCloskey said.
Alliance for Choice spokeswoman, Goretti Horgan, denied the leaflet encouraged women to lie to doctors, despite the actual content of the leaflet.
The pro-abortion groups action comes at the same time as an attempt by Westminster to forceone of the most extreme abortion regimes in the world on Northern Ireland. If Westminster are successful, there will be no law or regulation on abortion at all, until the 28th week of pregnancy. In which case, abortion will be available for any reason up until that point.
Right To Life UK spokesperson, Clare McCarthy, said:
“If there are any complications in taking any strong drugs it is obviously important that a doctor knows exactly what was taken.
“If a doctor is unable to diagnose what is wrong with a patient – and this could prove very difficult if a patient deliberately lies and conceals important information from them – it will be much harder to effectively treat the patient.”
“Alliance for Choice are being incredibly irresponsible by telling women to do just that. They are actively putting women at risk by telling them to lie to their doctors.”
