Almost no-one turned up to welcome abortion pill bus despite media fanfare

Despite huge advance media publicity, only journalists and rent-a-crowd abortion campaigners turned up to meet the abortion pill bus in Galway and Limerick. Pro-life protesters, who carried signs saying ‘abortion pills kill’ outnumbered the handful of pro-abortion extremists whose much-flaunted posturing as law-breakers turned out to be little more than a damp squib. In Limerick there were almost three times as many pro-life activists, while activists in Cork told the bus to ‘go home’ as it was ‘not welcome in Cork’.     

Hear Valerie O’Connor on Red FM here: http://mm.gmstatic.net.s3.amazonaws.com/157/684707.mp3

Earlier in the week, the Life Institute said that it was ‘deeply shocking’ to see that abortion activists who plan to make access to illegal abortion pills available on a bus touring the country appear to be playing ‘fast and loose’ with women’s lives.

On Morning Ireland earlier this week, Ruth Coppinger TD said that the abortion bus would ensure that women in Ireland could avail of the abortion pill by meeting the bus – but she admitted that no doctor would be present on the bus, and was dismissive of warnings from senior medical experts who warned that unsupervised use of the abortion pill could result in the death of the woman. Dr Sam Coulter Smith, Master of the Rotunda Maternity Hospital, in an interview with RTÉ’s Prime Time said that incorrect administration of the drug could lead to perforation of the uterus, and warned that this had caused women to die.  

Spokeswoman Niamh Uí Bhriain said that the ‘abortion bus’ was a cheap publicity stunt but that it was deeply shocking that a TD would take part in an initiative that could lead to a woman to lose her life. “Ruth Coppinger was interviewed by Morning Ireland and it was put to her that medical experts said  it was dangerous for women to take the abortion pill unsupervised. Dr Sam Coulter Smith said that women had lost their lives because of unsupervised use of the abortion pill. But Ms Coppinger refused to call a halt to the abortion pill campaign.”   “It is disturbing to see that abortion campaigners are so careless with safeguarding women’s lives,” said Ms Uí Bhriain. “Sadly, for many abortion extremists, this is about an ideology and not about actually helping women.”

She added that the number of Irish women travelling for abortions had fallen significantly – by 45% since 2011 – and that Ireland had a low abortion rate: 5% in contrast to 20% in Britain.    “It’s a real shame to see that so-called women’s rights advocates cannot welcome this positive progress, and seem determined instead to push abortion pills and endanger women’s lives instead,” she said.

   

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• Protesters turn up in Galway City