Tag Archives: current-events

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Micromachismo & Lapgate

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So last night despite the fact I am on holidays I found myself camping out in front of the tv in the house we have rented for the week.

So I was up and watching when what is being called lapgate occurred.

Tom Barry FG had apologises for ‘horseplay’ with Aine Collins FG.
It is more then that is was an utter lack of respect for a fellow TD and party member, for the people they both represent and the country as whole as it happened in the Dáil voting chamber.

He would not have done it to a male T.D.

So the lead word in the title of this post is micromachismo which is defined thusly.

“micromachismo”, as defined by Bonino (psychiatric working on promoting equality between women and men ) :
For the author these are ” small, almost imperceptible controls and abuses of power quasi normalized that the males execute permanently. They are skilful arts of domain, maneuvers and strategies that, without being very notable, they restrict and force insidiously and repeatedly the personal power, the autonomy and the psychic balance of the women, committing an outrage in addition against the democratization of the relations. Given his invisibility they are exercised generally by total impunity ” (Bonino, 2004: 3).

Last night we watch aghast as a TD grabbed another TD with out their consent and restrained them while the Dáil was in the process of finally trying to pass a bill to legislate for the Supreme court ruling on the X case.

21 years after that 14 year old girl was raped, ended up pregnant and wanted to end her life rather then be pregnant, there are people some of whom are members of our government who think during the debating session that accosting a woman in her place of work is ‘horseplay’.

What it is is horseshit. I have had mixed feelings on the bill and was by turns encouraged and disappointed by the debate last night but Lapgate shows us how far we have to go still in this country in treating women as equals and respecting them.

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Survivors of Symphysiotomy are still waiting 10 years on.

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It has been over 3 years from when I first wrote about the horrors of symphysiotomy in Ireland here on my blog. Back then many people had no idea what it was, or why it happened or the horrendous effect it had on the women it was preformed on. That changed when it was featured on Prime time.

The reason it was featured was that it was then 10 years from when the Survivors of symphysiotomy had been promised a review of their cases. The Article here dated 24/06/2003 show those women sharing their stories.

Symphysiotomy survivors demand inquiry – irishhealth.com.

Some of those women are no longer with us and while we have seen the government promise a bill to amend the statute of limitation to allow for redress there is no sign of it reaching the final stages as the end of the working period for the Dáil draws near, despite The Statute of Limitations (Amendment) Bill 2013 passing Second Stage on 17 April.

So the Survivors of Symphysiotomy put out the word they would be demostrating today and http://tradeuniontv.ie/ were there to cover it.

Survivors of Symphysiotomy

19 June 2013
SoS driven to demonstrate: 8 and 1/2 weeks later, our Bill STILL hasn’t come before the Justice Committee. The Minister for Justice doesn’t seem to be making himself available, so the Bill has yet to be tabled. We are holding a DEMO – our first – this coming Wednesday, 26 June, at 11 a.m., outside the Dail. Please bring banners, buggies and above all, bodies! Let’s shame this Government into doing the right thing by survivors of symphysiotomy.

Ireland is indeed being haunted by the many wrongs it allowed to happen, hopefully those ladies will not be made to wait any longer.

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Chairman says health of mother and not just life needs protection

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Chairman says health of mother and not just life needs protection .

The legal situation should be addressed “urgently” to ensure that not only the life but the health of the mother can be protected in pregnancy, the chairman of the review team said.

Prof Sabaratnam Arulkumaran was asked whether, to ensure another woman did not die in circumstances similar to those in which Savita Halappanavar had died, the law should permit termination of pregnancy where there was a threat to the health and not just to the life of the mother.

He replied: “Yes.”

More women could die in Irish hospitals in a manner similar to Savita Halappanavar unless legal clarity is provided for doctors on when they can intervene to terminate a pregnancy, the HSE report into her death has warned.Savita Halappanavar report: Tragic. Devastating.
Savita Halappanavar (left of photo) with children at Galway’s St Patrick’s day parade.The girl with the diamond smile
Dr Katherine Astbury advised Savita Halappanavar and her husband that a termination might have to be considered after a diagnosis of sepsis was confirmed. Photograph: Eric LukeTermination was denied at first because clinicians believed their ‘hands were tied’
Sabaratnam Arulkatumaran (left), Chairperson, and Dr Philip Crowler, National Director for Quality and Patient Safety, at the publication of the HSE clinical review report into the death of Savita Halappanavar on Thursday. Photograph: Eric LukeSerious gaps remain in what we know about operations in the hospital
“Failing to devise and follow a plan of care for this patient” is a fairly damning indictment of the healthcare professionals who looked after Ms Halappanavar. Photograph: Eric LukeMedical view: Focus on basics of care likely to help save lives

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“There are certain conditions a pregnant mother might have which can suddenly escalate – for example in this particular situation from an infection that is very localised but which spreads to the whole body and is sepsis.

“With severe sepsis the mortality rate is about 40 per cent, and if she goes into septic shock the mortality rate can be as much as 60 per cent. This can be in a very short period of time which means that [if] intervening is at a later stage it is difficult to bring the patient back to normality and to control.

Medical community
“So what we are saying is the medical community have to discuss with the legal profession if you really want to say the chances of making sure someone survives; this needs discussion.

“We don’t want another death happening because there is some ambiguity about how they interpret the law.”

He also said there were situations where a mother’s health only was threatened but which could escalate rapidly into a situation where her health would be permanently damaged.

“If you have infection, by the time it comes to sepsis and severe sepsis the fallopian tubes might be injured, she can become sub-fertile, she might have [later] an ectopic pregnancy. Life-long she might have pelvic inflammatory disease. I mean, how much are you prepared to take before considering termination of pregnancy?

“At what point is this going to give permanent injury to the woman, or what point might it escalate to death.”

He said too much responsibility was on individual doctors to interpret when it was legal to intervene, leading some to wait until the foetal heart stopped to be sure they were acting within the law.

“Even until the last minute they are waiting for the foetal heart to disappear before the termination would be considered. Some might have done it much earlier … so it seems to be a little bit individual, even within Ireland. So we must have some definitive meanings as to when you think this should be done.”

His patient
If Savita had been his patient in the UK she would have been offered a termination on Sunday, October 21st, the day she went into hospital. “If it was my case I would have terminated the pregnancy,” he said.

We need to get the 8th amendment repealed to safe guard women’s health.

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Draft General Scheme of the Protection of Maternal Life Bill 2013

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Draft General Scheme of the Protection of Maternal Life Bill 2013

Risk of loss of life from self-destruction

Provide that

1. A person shall not be guilty of an offense under….when a medical procedure referred to in… is carried out by a register medical practitioner

at an appropriate location at which mental health services are also provided and in relation to such mental health services at least one of the psychiatrists referred in this head is employed.

one obstetrician and two psychiatrists have jointly certified that in their reasonable opinion

there is a real and substantial risk of loss of the pregnant woman’s life from self-destruction and this risk can only be averted by medical procedure in the course of which or as a result of which unborn human life is destroyed.

one obstetrician and two psychiatrists have revived the opinion referred to… and certified that they are of the same opinion.

2 At least one of the psychiatrists refereed to in… shall be a perinatal psychiatrist.

Thank you to @curtainqueen for her screen shots which enabled me to type up the draft bill from #vinb.

1+2+1+2= 6.

And after the Minister for Health only on Monday denied that women would have to face 6 drs.

It is unworkable and the College of Psychiatrics of Ireland stated they would not take part in such compulsory assessments.

This is farcical and I can’t see any Dr wanting to put a person who is in such dire mental health through such a process. If you think this is absurd then I urge you to contact your TDs on this issue. The Abortion Rights Campgain have a draft letter you can use which you can find here: http://www.abortionrightscampaign.ie/2013/04/22/suicidal-women-should-have-to-see-no-more-that-two-doctors/

Activism and Agitation

IMO branded ‘out of step’ on abortion

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IMO branded ‘out of step’ on abortion.

IMO branded ‘out of step’ on abortion
April 19, 2013 By Lloyd Mudiwa Leave a Comment
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Photo by Voisin/Phanie / Rex Features

By Lloyd Mudiwa.

The IMO is ‘out of step’ with the majority in Ireland on abortion rights, a campaign group has claimed.

The Abortion Rights Campaign said it was dismayed at the rejection by the Organisation of general motions at its recent AGM in Killarney supporting the regulation of abortion in line with the X Case, or in the case of fatal foetal abnormalities.

Citing a Paddy Power/Red C opinion poll in January 2013, Sarah Malone of the Abortion Rights Campaign said: “In rejecting motions 38, 39 and 40, the IMO illustrates how far out of step it is with the majority of Irish people, who believe pregnant people should have the right to an abortion in Ireland in cases of fatal foetal abnormalities or in cases of rape or incest.”

Motion 38 called on the IMO to support regulation in relation to the provision of abortion services where there was a “real and substantial risk” to the life of the mother, while motions 39 and 40 sought for the union to call on the Government to legislate for women who become pregnant as a result of a criminal act, that they would be allowed access to legal termination within Ireland.

These motions also called for the provision of abortion services for women who were pregnant with non-viable foetal anomalies who chose to proceed with an abortion.

Janet O’Sullivan, a spokesperson for the Campaign, added: “We commend the work Dr Mary Favier and Dr Mark Murphy of Doctors for Choice are courageously doing, and are disappointed that women living in Ireland who have travelled for an abortion, or who are currently planning to travel, may now feel they cannot be open with their doctors and other healthcare professionals about their reproductive health choices.”

While the IMO declined to respond to the group’s claims, its President Dr Matt Sadlier told RTÉ’s This Week programme after the AGM that the motions passed were just a continuation of the Organisation’s policies passed a number of years ago.

When asked what practical implications passing the motions would have, Dr Sadlier replied: “If we are asked by Government to advise on legislation, then that will inform our position.”

Activism and Agitation

The time line of Kicking the X Case Can Further and Further down the road

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Again there are more delays in legislating for the X Case, as well as the A, B, C rulings leaving women’s health and lives at risk. The program for Government which the current government of FG and Lab agreed to, states they will legislate for the X case ruling and the two referendum on the X Case Ruling.

5 March 1992: The Supreme Court hands down it’s verdict in the X case.

25 November 1992: The proposed 12th amendment to over throw the X Case ruling is rejected by the Irish people.

8th March 2002: The proposed 25th amendment to cover throw the X Case ruling is rejected by the people.

16 December 2010: The EU Court Of Human Rights hands down it’s judgement in the In the case of A. B. and C. v. Ireland case.

January 2011: Labour leader Eamon Gilmore after the ruling of the European Court of Human Rights and the stern message that Ireland needed to get it’s act together and legislate stated that”Ireland needs legislation to allow abortion in circumstances where the life or health of the mother is at risk.”

13 January 2012: It was announced an expert group would be looking at the EU Human rights court ruling, which included recommendations from the A, B & C cases as well as the X case.

12 February 2012: The 20th year of the X Case judgement and with still there was no movement, The Action on X group held public meetings and started to put pressure on the government to finally legislate.

June 2012: The anti abortion groups had rolled out a well funded campaign and the pressure on politicians to yet again ignore the X Case Ruling, the two referendum and the recommendations of the EU human rights courts ramps up.

11 July 2012: The first pro choice Rally in years is held outside the Dáil.

22 July 2012:THE minister of State Kathleen Lynch has said she believes the Government will have no choice but to legislate for abortion in certain circumstances.

23 July 2012: Gilmore states they will wait for the expert group to report back before moving forward and

29 September 2012: the March for Choice happens in Dublin, bringing pro choice activists out on the streets.

15 November 2012: Gilmore states legal clarity is needed in regards to abortion.

17 November 2012: Enda Kenny states he won’t be rushed on the abortion issue.

18 November 2012: James Reilly has said he believes the Cabinet will make a decision on whether to legislate for the X Case early next year.

27 November 2012: The Expert group finally reports to the cabinet.

28 November 2012: An opposition bill proposing abortion legislation is defeated in the Dáil.

1 December 2012: The red C poll is published stating that the majority of the Irish people want the X Case legislated for and wish for abortion legislation beyond just the risk to the life of a woman.

11 December 2012: Ireland is told to expedite legislation by the EU.

19 December 2012: The Government is to proceed with “legislation with regulations” following the Expert Group report on abortion.

21 December 2012: It is announced that the Health committee will have hearings in the new year.

9, 10 11 January 2013: Over 3 days experts, advocates and clergy speak to the committee for health about the introduction of abortion legislation.

31 January 2013: Mr Reilly said he still hopes to have the legislation passed by the Dáil’s summer recess.

15 February 2013: Enda Kenny repeats that any legislation will be with in the Constitution that is with the remit of the 8th amendment.

2 march 2013: Pro choice groups query the delay in bring forward legislation.

4 March 2013: The evening before the 12 years of the anniversary of the verdict of the X case, protester hold a rally at Dublin Castle were the EU ministers for Health are meeting.

5 April 2013: The Master of the Rotunda Hospital calls for legal clarity.

17 April 2013: X Case legislation delayed again, may not be en acted by the summer recess.

How much long must the lives and health of women be at risk in Ireland?

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Survivors of symphysiotomy exception bill accepted.

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It was almost a decade a go that the then Minister for Health Mr Micheal Martin promised there would be a review of the procedure of Symphysiotomy in Irish hospitals.

Last night saw a bill accepted by the Dáil, which removes the time limit for those women who were abused and left suffering for the rest of their lives so that they can now seek out redress. Many women didn’t know what had happened to them, it was their first child. They were failed by the hospitals and often their own GP over the years who didn’t treat them properly or explain what was done to them.

This was done to over a 1,000 women and about 200 remain still. Why was it done?
Contraception was not legal here until 1984, and there is a limit to the number of C sections a woman may have, so to get around that symphysiotomy was used.

Contraception was banned as Ireland was considered a Catholic country.
Again catholic dogma resulted in substandard of care of women in Irish Maternity hospitals leaving them in agony.

Why did women put up with it? Because they were told to, often the term to offer up your suffering would be used when it came to ‘women’s issues’ and ‘The Curse’. To this day Irish women are hesitant to talk about OB/Gyn issues and reproductive issues, this needs to change, we need to be better informed and to share our stories.

The Survivors of symphysiotomy, did not give informed consent, they were not told which procedure and why and the repercussions of it. I am glad the bill has been accepted and more people know of what happened, when I first wrote about symphysiotomy 3 years ago most people had no idea what it was, hopefully now we are aware we will try and make sure that women living here in Ireland never suffer such abuses again at the hands of health care professionals.

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Nevada Lawmaker Receives Death Threats After Talking About Her Abortion

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pNevada, which has one of the highest rates of unintended teen pregnancy in the nation, is considering updating its abstinence-only education policy to require more comprehensive sexual health instruction in public schools. This week, in a debate over that proposed legislation, Nevada Assemblywomen Lucy Flores (D) testified in favor of the bill, sharing her own story about the consequences of inadequate sex ed — all of her sisters became teenage mothers, and Flores herself decided to have an abortion when she became pregnant at 16.[…]/p

via Nevada Lawmaker Receives Death Threats After Talking About Her Abortion.

There has been a lot of press interest on the topic of abortion in Ireland and journalists of many types wanting to speak to Irish women who have had an abortion, they seem surprised when we don’t come forward to talk to them.

I don’t find it surprising at all, due to the shaming and the stigma and people know your business. I know it’s important but it’s still so very hard to do.

When a woman is brave enough like Lucy Flores gets treated in such a vile manner it makes it even harder.

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The 8th amendment needs to be repealed for the sake of the health and lives of women.

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http://www.irishtimes.com/news/health/savita-halappanavar-death-report-finds-foetus-not-mother-was-main-focus-1.1345890

The Health Service Executive report on the death last year at Galway University Hospital of Savita Halappanavar has found there was an overemphasis by hospital staff on the welfare of Ms Halappanavar’s unviable foetus and an underemphasis on her deteriorating health.

The final draft report says: “The investigating team considers there was an apparent overemphasis on the need not to intervene until the foetal heart stopped, together with an underemphasis on the need to focus an appropriate attention on monitoring for and managing the risk of infection and sepsis in the mother.”

Miscarriage management in this country is based on catholic dogma, which was wedged into our constitution in 1983. If a woman is miscarrying and it is unavoidable and the fetus will not survive, they do not intervene if there is a fetal heartbeat, unless the life of the woman is in imminent danger.

Never mind her physical, mental or emotional heath. She will be left to miscarry (often with out pain relief which may effect the dying fetus and be said to hasten the miscarriage) until her life is at risk or the fetal heart beat stops. In other countries once it is found that the miscarriage is un avoidable and the fetus will not survive women are offered to have the pregnancy ended rather then put them at further risk to their health.

If we had the same model if miscarriage management as other western countries, no woman would be left to suffer and miscarry in such a cruel fashion. X Case legislation will not deal with the risks to the health of women only risk to the life of women in the cases of suicide. The 8th amendment needs to be repealed for the sake of the health and lives of women.

Activism and Agitation, Press

3somes and Blowjobs and Liveline, Oh my!

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This week flew in with the kids being on Easter break so I’ve not written about this yet, but sure hear goes.

Yes I was on national radio this week for the first time, such was my ire at at the attitude on Liveline that I emailed the show. The segment was about the fuss Michelle “Fornication” Mulherin TD raised over one of the many articles on http://spunout.ie/.

For those of ye who don’t know what spunout.ie is, it is a website aimed at 16 to 25 year olds.

SpunOut.ie is a website dedicated to helping you make informed decisions about things which may be happening in your life. It is also a place to have your voice heard about things which are bothering you or to provide solutions to some of the big, or small, problems facing Irish society.

SpunOut.ie provides young people between the ages of 16 and 25 with the information and skills to deal with the difficult things life throws at us and lends a megaphone for our voices to be heard to change our own lives and the world.

An important part of SpunOut.ie is to give a voice to those who wish to tell their story in order to demonstrate to others that they are not alone, and that we all experience similar difficulties through the course of our lives.

We publish articles on sex, mental health, alcohol + drugs, education, employment and much more.

They are a registered charity and get a funding grant from the HSE which contributes to covering some of their over all costs.One of the many articles on the site was about 3somes, the pros and cons and addressing the facts. The notion that any tax payers money was being used to ‘promote’ 3somes to teenagers had Mulherin outraged.

It seems to have outraged some of the listeners and callers to Liveline also. I had been following the story about Spunout.ie from the night before and while I am not a regular live line listener I did tune in and got so cross that I emailed the show stating I am a stay at home Mam in my late 30s, with two teenage kids and I support the work Spunout.ie do.

They emailed me back asking for my phone number and then one of the production staff rang me and I was asked would I go on the show. Here is the podcast, I am on the last 10 minutes.

http://podcast.rasset.ie/podcasts/audio/2013/0325/20130325_rteradio1-liveline-controvers_c20177046_20177056_232_.mp3

Yes I did say, anal sex, oral sex, 3some and the phrase ‘promoting blowjobs’ live on national radio to Joe Duffy, who doesn’t intimidate me at all, sure he grew up in the same part of Dublin as my Dad and is about the same age and all. I did ring and tell my parents afterwards, as a polite heads up and they laughed and said they were proud of me.

You see back in the mid 80s they ran parenting courses in primary schools for other parents, including the sex educational model and they have always been advocates of sex education, so I didn’t lick it off a stone.

When I listened to the podcast when it went up I was happy to have been able to plug some more helpful sites where people can get information. I mentioned the sex ed program the HSE put together but has a difficult time distrubting to parents the first section of it is Busy Bodies
 aim at parents and children before puberty and I also mentioned The Facts and the other programs which can be gotten for free, which the HSE have spent money on.

I also mentioned that the NHS in the UK spends money on Sex Education websites http://www.respectyourself.info/ and I mentioned http://www.scarleteen.com/ as good resources for young people, so much better at them learning about sex and sexuality then just by looking at porn.

Looking back I am glad I took part on the program, as Amanda Palmer has said “We are the Media” and we do have to challenge the the notion that Ireland is still a very conservative catholic country and part of that is having our voices heard, even on Liveline.

And having had Joe Duffy say “That if you are asked to be in a 3some, just say no.” still makes me laugh.