Woman in Ireland denied abortion, forced to have c-section

[Bethella]

www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/17/i ... d-abortion

www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/18/i ... ape-friend

A woman in Ireland was denied an abortion despite meeting the criteria of being pregnant due to a rape and being suicidal. When she threatened to go on a hunger strike, they forced her to deliver via c-section at 25 weeks and put the baby in foster care. This is apparently the first legal challenge to the 2013 Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act, under which she should have been able to get an abortion. Makes it seem like the only reason for the new legislation is to look good on paper without having to actually follow through with letting someone have an abortion.

[treemom]

I'm disgusted.

[It'sFunToRun]

Now there is an orphaned baby who might suffer its whole life from disabilities caused by being a micro-preemie. I guess there's a reason they call it "pro-life" and not "pro-quality-of-life".

I remember reading an article about how Irish women who want abortions fly over to Britain to get it done. Of course, the poorest women won't be able to afford the plane/bus ticket, and immigrant women might have problems going into another country.

[It'sFunToRun]

I realize that the woman was suicidal, but I think it was really smart of her to threaten a hunger stike. If she hadn't done that, they probably would have made her stay pregnant for longer, since they only care about the fetus. If she had gone through with the hunger strike, she might have miscarried. A hunger strike would put her own health at risk, but so does being suicidal.

[Trynn]

Is the pregnancy even viable at 25 weeks?

[momof2treasures]

Yes the age of viability is 24 weeks. Why did she wait so long?

[Mama Mia]

She didn't wait until 25 weeks on purpose. There is a new law that allows abortion if a woman is suicidal, but it must be decided by some board. She originally asked at 8 weeks, and the system strung it out and eventually denied her.

She couldn't go to the U.K. For an abortion because if her immigration status.

A hunger strike would be extremely, extremely un-likely to cause her to lose the baby ( and at that point it would be a stillbirth, not a miscarriage) . Women can have extreme hyperemisis gravadium and still have perfectly healthy babies.

In my opinion they should have allowed her the abortion when she initially applied. I think the most appalling part of the whole thing was the way they strung her along.

If they were going to force her to give birth instead I think it would of been better to wait a couple of more weeks, because the odds of the baby having severe health issues greatly decreases between 25 and 27 weeks. But I don't know how that would of worked.

And yes, at 25 weeks most babies will survive. The term micro-preemie includes babies born between 23 and 25 weeks, so a 25 weeker is likely to be at the better range of outcomes:

Health outcomes for Micro Preemies

Due to the immaturity of preemie babies bodies and because they often must endure a lot of poking and prodding, such as machines to help them breathe, or tubes for feeding or antibiotics, they are at risk for a number of long-term health difficulties. It is important to remember that not all preemie babies will have long-term problems and it is not always easy to predict which babies will have continuing difficulties but the following information is based on data that has been reported by experts in the field of preterm birth.

Of preemie babies born between 23 and 25 weeks gestational age, (micro preemies);

Approximately 30-40% will develop normally without any major health concerns or disabilities.

Around 20 to 35% will have severe disabilities such as cerebral palsy, severe intellectual impairment, blindness, deafness, or a combination of these, which will require significant medical care well beyond that usually needed to care for babies of the same age

25 to 40% will have mild to moderate disabilities, such as subtle forms of visual impairment, mild cerebral palsy affecting motor control, chronic asthma, learning difficulties, and behaviour problems like attention deficit disorder v(i.e. ADHD/ADD).

There are several factors that increase the risk of having a disability. The main risk factors are those preemie babies who suffered damage to the white matter of the brain, chronic lung disease (also called bronchopulmonary dysplasia), and growth restriction in their mother’s womb.

That's from this site: http://preemiehelp.com/about-preemies/p ... 3-25-weeks

But they have similar information from the March of Dimes, WHO, etc..

[polecat]

So she didn't get a say in her body being used as an incubator, and she didn't get a say in getting cut open.

It's 2014, and women still don't have control over their bodies.

I can't even with this shit.

[formergothardite]

Yes the age of viability is 24 weeks. Why did she wait so long?

She didn't, she was forced to wait that long. The real goal of making women jump through hoops to have an abortion is actually making them delay so long that they can't have an abortion.

I can't imagine what going through a forced pregnancy and a forced C-section is going to do to this woman who was clearly already emotionally vulnerable. But, as usually, the anti-choice crowd doesn't give a shit about the quality of life a woman has.

[docmom]

As has been previously noted, they are not pro-LIFE, they are pro-PREGNANCY. Period. Once they've forced the woman to go through pregnancy they care fuck-all about her or the baby.

[ViolaSebastian]

I read in another article about this that 1. She was an immigrant on a visa, and thus unable to fly to the UK and 2. She started asking for an abortion at eight weeks. Evidently the legal challenge took too long.

[SquirrelySquirrel]

This is beyond sickening. This poor woman has been abused and seriously assaulted. Forced surgery surely should be classified as assault with a deadly weapon!

What would they have done if she refused the c-section? Knocked her out? Strapped her to a bed? Arrested her? I'm truly curious. It's amazing she didn't resort to a back alley abortion.