THE Crisis Pregnancy Agency is set to crackdown on rogue counselling services which manipulate women and provide a "disingenuous" service.CPA chairwoman Katharine Bulbulia said the agency was aware of organisations providing services which could involve a hidden agenda using various tactics, including delaying the counselling process, showing clients inappropriate images or providing negative health information.
Speaking at the launch of its annual report, Ms Bulbulia encouraged women to use high-quality counselling services funded by the CPA or provided by GPs and other reputable health care providers who have specific training and expertise.
According to the CPA’s annual report, one of its key priorities is to deliver improvements in the availability and accessibility of post-abortion services.
It said that in 2008, there was an increase of 12% in the number of post-abortion medical checkups funded by the agency.
Information from service providers on the numbers of post-abortion check-ups showed that about 13.8% of women are availing of state-funded post-abortion services.
Director of the CPA Caroline Spillane said in the first two months of the campaign to promote the availability of free post-abortion services there had been 2,395 web visitors and 654 text requests for information. This she said was expected to increase in 2009.
Overall, the number of women travelling to Britain for abortions fell from 4,686 in 2007 to 4,600 last year.
In 2008, 330 Irish women went to the Netherlands to end their pregnancy – a drop from 451 in 2007.
Launching the report, Health Minister Mary Harney noted progress since the agency’s establishment in 2001, including a 31% decrease in the number of women travelling from Ireland to Britain for abortions, a 20% decrease in the number and rate of births to teens and a 46% decrease in the number of teenagers travelling from Ireland to Britain for abortions.
The agency also outlined a range of other initiatives it has been involved with including, in conjunction with HSE west, Guidelines for Health Professionals Working in Maternity Settings on the Care of Women with Concealed Pregnancy.
Other research, set for completion next year, aims to assess the impact of the workplace on the employment patterns of women during pregnancy and after having a baby.
The research is expected to shed light on the employment factors that impact on determining a pregnancy as a crisis pregnancy, estimate levels of discrimination and explore the factors that impact on women when deciding whether to return to work after having a child.
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