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Professor Eamon McGuinness at today's Save the 8th conference Leah Farrell/RollingNews.ie

Pro-life doctor says no woman has died because of the Eighth Amendment

Professor Eamon McGuinness’ comments are at odds with previous remarks made by Dr Peter Boylan.

A MEDICAL ADVISER to the Save the 8th campaign has said he doesn’t think there’s “a major disagreement” among doctors about whether the Eighth Amendment affects the care they give pregnant women and girls.

Professor Eamon McGuinness, a consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist, said: “There’s a lot of disagreement among the public, so doctors are part of the public, so not everybody is going to agree.

“I think there are a lot of doctors out there who are of a similar view to me and there’s no disagreement, even among general practitioners I don’t think there’s a major disagreement.”

McGuinness was speaking at a Save the 8th press conference in Dublin today, where he said he believes no woman has died as a result of the Eighth Amendment.

The Institute of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, which McGuinness previously chaired, has come out in favour of repealing the amendment.

Dr Peter Boylan, the organisation’s current chair, previously told the Oireachtas Eighth Amendment Committee: “I don’t think the Constitution is the place to regulate medical practice … [The Eighth] has caused endless problems.”

He said the amendment is “unworkable”, noting it was enacted over 34 years ago – before the internet or abortion pills had been invented.

Boylan added that the Eighth Amendment “gives rise to significant difficulties for doctors practising in Ireland and has caused grave harm to women, including death”. He said Savita Halappanavar was one of the women who died as a result of the amendment.

At the time, independent TD Mattie McGrath said there are differing opinions about whether or not it was responsible for her death, to which Boylan he “had the opportunity of reviewing her notes forensically”.

McGuinness said he’s still a member of the Institute of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists but not on the executive council so did not wish to comment on its position.

“Since we started recording maternal deaths, we haven’t had one death, to my knowledge, that has occurred as result of the Eighth Amendment, that’s all I can say,” he said.

‘Why are so many women having to leave this country?’

Speaking today at the launch of It’s Time to Talk, Amnesty International’s campaign for a Yes vote, Health Minister Simon Harris said: “The Institute of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists was neutral on the question of the Eighth Amendment in 1983, it’s not neutral today.
https://www.facebook.com/journalpolitics/videos/1893905720633791/

“It, as a body, believes that we should repeal the Eighth Amendment. Let’s not run down rabbit holes, nobody is suggesting that people in our health service don’t give people expert, quality care – of course they do. But let’s not ignore the reality in this country.

Why are so many women having to leave this country, from every county in Ireland, to access termination, if everything is fine? Why are so many women, three a day, having to illegally take abortion pills at medical risk without having any support, if everything is okay?

At the earlier press conference, McGuinness said the Eighth Amendment never impacted the care he gave pregnant women, noting that the Medical Council’s guidelines oblige doctors to deliver the treatment a patient needs, including in cases where such treatment could harm an unborn child.

When asked about the comments made by Boylan – and similar remarks made by Dr Rhona Mahony, Master of the Holles Street Maternity Hospital, at the Oireachtas Eighth Amendment Committee – McGuinness said: “Well I just want to know where it’s tying their hands, it didn’t tie my hands and, a lot of my colleagues, it didn’t tie our hands.

“We were not restricted in any way … so I don’t know what society they’re working in, possibly different than mine.”

Miss P 

When asked his opinion on the Miss P case – where the HSE went to the High Court in December 2014 to see if they could switch off the life support of a pregnant woman who was declared brain-dead – McGuinness said he wasn’t familiar with it.

I don’t remember the case so I really can’t comment on it. Death doesn’t have to be immediate to carry out a termination if it’s required.

McGuinness was also asked about the case of Michelle Harte, a woman with cancer who had to travel to the UK for a termination in 2010.

Doctors at Cork University Hospital had advised her to terminate the pregnancy but were unable to do so as there was no ‘immediate’ risk to her life. She received substantial compensation from the State shortly before her death in 2011.

“I don’t want to comment on that particular case because I don’t know the details of it. My understanding is that the patient had a malignant melanoma, much more than that I really don’t know … I know nothing about the case and I don’t wish to comment on it,” McGuinness said.

No impact on care 

At the press conference, three women spoke about how the Eighth Amendment didn’t affect the treatment they received when they became sick while pregnant.

1671 Save the 8th_90541839 Louise Dunleavy, who received treatment for sepsis while pregnant Leah Farrell / RollingNews.ie Leah Farrell / RollingNews.ie / RollingNews.ie

Audrey McElligott was treated for Stage 4 cancer while pregnant. She said: “Everyone at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital (in Drogheda, Co Louth) did everything they could to save me and my baby. As with any surgery or chemotherapy, the doctors told me there would be risks for my baby and me…

I went through chemotherapy for three cycles while pregnant. The delivery of the baby was a scheduled Cesarean (section) so that it would coincide with my chemotherapy, which kills my immune system, so that I wouldn’t be at risk of infection.

McElligott said her son Joseph was born in 2013, with no traces of chemo in his body.

Louise Dunleavy also spoke at the conference. She developed life-threatening sepsis while pregnant.

“I know from first-hand experience that doctors were not constrained by the Eighth Amendment from acting to save my life … Doctors worked very effectively and aggressively to treat me straight away,” she said.

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    Mute cosmological
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    Apr 24th 2015, 12:37 PM

    What a nightmare for the kid, not to mention the family.

    478
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    Mute Angry Squirrel
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    Apr 24th 2015, 12:45 PM

    Yep I would be suing the SXxT out of the lot of them if it was my daughter.

    296
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    Mute dstaffx
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    Apr 24th 2015, 12:50 PM

    Sue sue sue! Lets get money!
    There are better things in life than money.

    89
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    Mute Gonzo Doyle
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    Apr 24th 2015, 12:52 PM

    Strange the way Glen has stopped commenting on every single story since he is in line for comment of the week. He will have his Sunday best on at 11am tomorrow for the announcement.

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    Mute cosmological
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    Apr 24th 2015, 12:59 PM

    Wot’s this Gonzo obsession with Glen, are you a secret admirer?

    159
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    Mute Conor Cullen
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    Apr 24th 2015, 1:08 PM

    Yeah and when you have loads of money you can buy those things!

    41
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    Mute Lolo
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    Apr 24th 2015, 1:13 PM

    Well the compensation money would come in handy for all the therapy the poor kid will probably need!

    135
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    Mute Amy gaffney
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    Apr 24th 2015, 1:51 PM

    Maybe suing them would make them think twice before making such a monumental cock up again. That Garcia one had her own daughter taken away and then done the same thing to someone else and refuses to take responsibility for it. There’s a special kind of selfish nastiness in that.

    129
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    Mute ohaimhirghin
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    Apr 24th 2015, 2:32 PM

    Eggs?

    4
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    Mute Alan Wiley
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    Apr 24th 2015, 12:39 PM

    It’s not often Mexicans have to be dragged kicking and screaming to the U.S.

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    Mute Living Abroad
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    Apr 24th 2015, 5:52 PM

    That supposed to be funny? idiot

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    Mute Barney r
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    Apr 25th 2015, 11:17 AM

    For the women smuggled into the sex trade and the hundreds that die crossing the border, thats hilarious

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    Mute John
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    Apr 24th 2015, 1:46 PM

    Remember when that happened here in Ireland because some curtain twitcher thought that a Romanian child didn’t look enough like her parents. Just last year

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    Mute Patrick Murphy
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    Apr 24th 2015, 2:04 PM

    And most of the commentators on the journal thought it was ok for the gardai to do it.

    71
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    Mute Paul Roche
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    Apr 24th 2015, 2:19 PM

    Once might have been forgivable, but twice?

    23
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    Mute Sinead
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    Apr 24th 2015, 12:56 PM

    I really just don’t understand how this could happen? How could the woman who took her not see that the girl is not her daughter? And the the girl has a huge family all testifying who she is! Fairly dodgy carry on.

    152
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    Mute Ciarán Masterson
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    Apr 24th 2015, 12:43 PM

    Why didn’t Dorotea Garcia ask the Mexican authorities to test a sample of Alondra’s DNA before the court hearing took place? How could she not have thought of the possibility that the girl was not her daughter?

    152
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    Mute Avina Laaf
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    Apr 24th 2015, 6:02 PM

    She was probably desperate, but any right-thinking neutral would see this as the most appropriate way to approach the situation, even if the kid had to be taken into temporary foster care whilst awaiting results.

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    Mute Jane Sacrey
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    Apr 24th 2015, 1:09 PM

    Holy cow .. They could have been sending her to her death or worse … I don’t understand in this day and age with so much at the courts disposal that they did not do the DNA test before shipping her off !!!!!!!

    104
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    Mute John Ryan
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    Apr 24th 2015, 8:04 PM

    US law enforcement wave their big dick and the Mexicans bend over is how this works.

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    Mute ah_enda
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    Apr 24th 2015, 12:47 PM

    Absolutely disgraceful…

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    Mute Thomas Maher
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    Apr 24th 2015, 12:50 PM

    Mad ted

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    Mute Jamie McCormack
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    Apr 24th 2015, 1:04 PM

    Not the Momma!

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    Mute Jamie McCormack
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    Apr 24th 2015, 10:26 PM
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    Mute Dennis Collins
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    Apr 24th 2015, 4:25 PM

    The judge claims that she could not order a DNA test as it is not her job to investigate, rather just to judge. If she felt the evidence was insufficient, what would have been wrong with simply dismissing it until more satisfactory evidence was presented. A lot of questions need to be answered by this judge.

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    Mute Sheik Yahbouti
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    Apr 24th 2015, 3:22 PM

    Utterly disgraceful.

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    Mute Shane Russell
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    Apr 24th 2015, 4:06 PM

    That is so messed up.

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    Mute Vicko Aguilar
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    Apr 24th 2015, 4:40 PM

    It’s embarrassing to see this kind of stupidity! I claim all the children from Mexico are mind and the rotten judge say yes they r yours you can take them now. Poor parents! I can’t imagine the law in that country!!

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    Mute Vinny Wallace
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    Apr 24th 2015, 4:51 PM

    Did no one have a bit of sense even at border control there was no real eveidence this woman was the mother of the child. Did no one say hang on a sec go get DNA evidence then you can come into the country.

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    Mute Paul Roche
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    Apr 24th 2015, 2:17 PM

    The best interests of the child in action.

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    Mute Oisín Tarrant
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    Apr 24th 2015, 6:12 PM

    The father who really took Dorotea Garcias daughter has to have seen this happening.

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    Mute Ewan O'Doherty
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    Apr 26th 2015, 8:16 AM

    Even if Alondra Lunez’ family attempt to sue the authorities (which, in a still very corrupt Mexico, one wonders if ‘authorities’ is a misnomer) how far would they get? To do something like that to a terrified young girl, all I can say is that I am totally disgusted

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