27 October 2005
Dr. Henry: I congratulate the delegates on the impressive work. It is good to see a decline in the number of abortions, even though as Senator Browne said, it does not show the total number. The decline is happening even though the total population of the country has increased as well as the population in that age group. It seems to be more hopeful.
I was involved in setting up the Crisis Pregnancy Agency and we were most anxious about the rate of abortions.
I am also delighted the delegation highlighted the situation regarding teenage births. The concentration is often on teenagers but it is the age group of 20-29 years where the real problems exist. The UK figure for teenage births is much higher than in Ireland and the US figure is about twice that again. We seem to be making some sort of progress and it is important to point this out.
I know it is not the agency's brief to deal with sexually transmitted infections but the increase is truly dreadful and appalling, especially when one sees the effects of clamidia which can cause infertility if not diagnosed early. I am preaching to the converted. Genital warts are virtually impossible to get rid of on a long term basis. Is there a need to organise an information campaign about sexually transmitted diseases?
In my view there are problems in obtaining the emergency contraceptive pill.
People are embarrassed to go to their general practitioner and to their local chemist. A committee reporting to the FDA suggested that it should be available over the counter. It is not an abortifacient; it just prevents implantation of the fertilised ovum if it is fertilised and would not be discarded anyway. Does the Crisis Pregnancy Agency believe wider availability would be useful? We are talking about allowing nurses to write prescriptions before Christmas. Is this one of the areas we should address with nurses writing prescriptions? While people seem to know about it, its use is quite low and the knowledge for how long it is effective is also low. I congratulate the agency on all it has done.
