A Matter Of Life And Debt

Life is a pregnancy counselling service. It is one of the services grouped together under the umbrella of the Crisis Pregnancy Agency and as such is in receipt of State funding, through the Department of Health. However, not everyone is happy with the way it has been approaching what is a challenging and often sensitive remit, counselling women who have to deal with unplanned and often unwanted pregnancies.
Among the accusations levelled at Life is that their depiction of abortion on their website is hostile, judgemental – and misleading.
The Union of Students in Ireland recently called upon Life to review the information provided on its website . Why?
“Much of the language used was aggressive," says USI Welfare Officer, Layne Aston. "While groups are entitled to their own views, these should not dictate the scope of information that is provided. All we ask for is fairness. Women who are forced to deal with an unplanned pregnancy need to be given full details regarding their options, rather than advice that is influenced by a particular agency’s policy or opinions.”

The Irish Family Planning Association also raised concerns about the service being offered by Life with the Crisis Pregnancy Agency, the umbrella group through which funding to Life is channelled. They also asked Minister for Health, Mary Harney, to look into the matter. The IFPA had received a number of complaints about the Life website from clients and other members of the public.
“The section on Life’s website that deals with abortion is, in our view, designed to scare women in a crisis pregnancy situation who may be considering abortion," Rosie Toner, IFPA’s Director of Counselling Services commented. "It uses inaccurate information and exaggerated claims regarding the effects of an abortion procedure.
“Our experience in dealing with women who return from Britain after an abortion – both in our counselling service and in our medical clinics – would indicate that the vast majority of women who have abortions do not experience any post-operation complications or high levels of distress.”
Following the pressure exerted by USI and the IFPA, in acknowledgement of the concerns expressed, Life has now amended its website. But it seems clear that the organisation still retains an anti-abortion stance.
Life’s website homepage states that it offers “Pregnancy counselling on all your options, parenting, adoption and abortion.”
Yet further down on the page it states: “Life does not give the names and addresses of abortion clinics to clients. Life does not consider abortion as a positive option for woman or child.”
The only conclusion to be drawn from these two statements is that Life counsels women negatively against abortion. The site banner may read “Compassion in your crisis” but the impression is that compassion will only be provided to a pregnant woman in distress if she decides to either a) keep her baby or b) give her baby up for adoption. Women or girls facing the undeniably worrying prospect of abortion should, it seems, not look for counselling or comfort from Life.
The Department of Health funds the Crisis Pregnancy Agency, which in turn runs a referral agency called Positive Options, which funds and provides contact information on nine different counselling groups.
All of these groups have a different ethos. Some, like Life, are clearly biased against the option of abortion, while others, like the Irish Family Planning Association provide support and information on abortion.
Confusingly, all of the nine groups claim to provide post-abortion counselling. One can only imagine the different types of counselling. And is there not a danger that those who disapprove of or are hostile to abortion will do quite the opposite of what is best in a post-abortion context – which is to assist the woman to feel comfortable with the chioce she has made?
While it is acceptable that there will be differences in ethos between the various agencies, there is a bewildering number of agencies, all with different policies regarding abortion.
A woman or girl with a crisis pregnancy, under stress and short on time may be completely mystified as to where to turn. The possibility of her picking an agency and finding, for example, that they are clearly against abortion, is very likely. It is also regrettable that agencies whose ethos is anti-abortion seem to couch that ethos in language that is designed to reel women who are considering abortion in.
The USI wants the Crisis Pregnancy Agency to go further and look at all Irish agencies. “To ensure that such a situation does not occur again," Layne Aston says. "USI calls for the regulation of all pregnancy counselling agencies. Such a move would guarantee that all information provided by such agencies is within guidelines of accuracy, openness and that they are accountable for the information they provide.”
Caroline Spillane of the Crisis Pregnancy Agency says that, following complaints, they now plan to review the website content of the nine agencies it funds. This is to be welcomed. However, once it does so, the Agency should make its findings clear and public. As one concerned individual put it, "The Crisis Pregnancy Agency should also take the opportunity to make sure that language used on agency websites is clear and direct. If an agency tends to counsel a woman against abortion, it should say so clearly in its websites and advertising.
"Women and girls with unwanted pregnancies have enough to put up with. Rhetoric and a fudging of issues should not be added to their burden."

See also Irish Family Planning Association and www.crisispregnancy.ie