Last night, Prime Time ran an item on TFMR (Terminations For Medical Reasons) with Katie Hannon revealing correspondence between the Master of the Rotunda Hospital Dr Sam Coulter-Smith and the Chief Medical Officer of the Department of Health highlighting safety concerns of women who travel to Britain for a termination and return to Ireland half-way through the procedure.
Niamh Uí Bhriain of The Life Institute described it “as abortion in the case of profound disability and the misinformation needs to be dealt with….where we’re talking about bringing in abortion because a child has a disability however profound.”
David McCullagh was then joined by Dr Peter Boylan of the National Maternity Hospital, Holles Street and solicitor Caroline Simons of the Pro Life Campaign for the inevitable FIGHT.
Watch in full here.
Abortion: Medical concerns over new trend (Susan Mitchell, Sunday Business Post)
Previously: “Bad Law Makes Hard Cases”
Dr Peter Boylan and Breda O’Brien: The Transcript
“Would He Prefer For Both Of Them To Die?”
UPDATE:
Meanwhile…
A no-brainer for RTE_PrimeTime: if you show families who chose abortion, you must have families who respected their child till the end.
— Senator Rónán Mullen (@RonanMullen) October 9, 2014
“Niamh Uí Bhriain of The Life Institute described it “as abortion in the case of profound disability and the misinformation needs to be dealt with…””
I irony of Niamh talking about misinformation.
Why do they keep rolling out these same people?
theres no one else.
Great point.
Caroline Simons brings me out in a rash.
Just get her to wear gloves next time.
The claims Caroline Simons made are so ridiculously inaccurate she should not be aloud on irish TV to spread such proven falsehoods and create a atmosphere of fear and shame.
i hate her too but am not opposed to having her air her so called point of view in public so that more knowledgeable folks can disprove it
I’d disagree with you there Will.
Free speech doesn’t mean that the public funded broadcaster should repeatedly give time to someone who is fast and loose with the truth.
This woman was giving talks around the country recently and people went to see her. Not problem, as she was providing her own platform there, but
Differing views are fine, but making crap up isn’t public service broadcasting, we get enough of that every time they give a soft-soap interview to a politician.
RTÉ doesn’t have to give time to people who are fast and loose with the truth?! I suppose that means they don’t have to cover politics anymore? AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA
yes wayne has a point there
But her points have already been disproven and I worry for the people who aren’t educated in what she is saying and take her word as gospel because she is a solicitor that prime time deems her opinions to be valid enough to air on national television.
yes drogg and sam; i do take both of your points but i feel you underestimate public intelligence. as voltaire i think said i would defend the right of free speech even when it is speech with which i do not agree. provided it is not hate speech or racist of course which may be the angle you guys are coming from?
I’m really sick and tired of RTE “balancing” reasonable debate with the nutters from the extreme right.
Coming out with factoids about a baby with no kidneys surviving a few months does not add to the compassionate discussion needed to make a awful situation slightly more bearable on all directly involved.
“pro-life” me arse!
here here!
+1. The lack of compassion from these apparent people of faith never fails to astound me.
which opponents should never tire of pointing out. i would if i was debating then anyway
Also how defensive and deflecting she is being in the interview
much as i dislike what they have to say i do not think calling opponents nutters will convince reasonable folks
The program was supposed to be about unfortunate couples who opt for a termination for medical reasons having one part of the procedure in a hospital in England and then presenting to a maternity hospital in Ireland to deliver their child. At least that way they have support here in Ireland and they are not waiting for a courier to deliver their child’s remains in a box weeks/months later. Peter Boylan, the voice of reason in all of this debate, spoke of the risk this split of hospitals causes and how much this is increasing.
That “lady” brought absolutely nothing to the debate and never once came across as any way humane or sympathetic to the plight of couples in this terrible situation. In fact, she brings nothing at all to this or any discussion.
Peter Boylan looked fairly exasperated. I suppose it’s like trying to reason with a child.
It’s like having Stephen Hawking argue about physics with a pigeon.
Sidewinder, your comment made me snort.
here leave pigeons out of this!
Sidewinder’s always picking on me
*bobs head sadly*
Horrible woman.
Real people in real situations that real doctors have to deal with. Any chance actually letting the grown ups having a conversation without carting out the wingnuts?
The look she gets at 2.43 is priceless. Like looking at an out of control child on the bus
What really p*sses me off is the fact that those affected by such a tragedy are already experiencing one of evolutions most monstrous and devastating trials. Their suffering is denied and discredited by these supposedly Christian individuals.
I recently spent time with a woman who went to term knowing full well the child would not survive. She couldn’t travel for health reasons. I would so love to put these fuppers in front of her and see the complete and utter devastation, the desperate guilt, the black sadness….
I watched a strong, ballsy and independent woman break apart…. But hey, it’s ok because she did the right thing according to Simons et al.
It’s barbaric cruelty that belongs in the past.
Too right.
“I would so love to put these fuppers in front of her and see the complete and utter devastation, the desperate guilt, the black sadness….”
There wouldn’t be any point because they don’t give a f**k about real live people.
She basically says what they do is like leaving a baby in a cupboard to die. I do not think she has anything remotely resembling a warm human feeling for people in that situation.
Who is she looking at?
She’s not looking at the camera, or either of the chaps she’s speaking to..
Or is she deliberately trying to appear condescending while she trots out lies and tries to tell Peter Boylan she knows his job better than he does?