LABOUR PARTY TABLES LEGISLATION TO REGULATE CRISIS PREGNANCY AGENCIES

The Labour Party will today formally introduce a Bill to Dáil Éireann designed to tackle the behaviour of rogue crisis pregnancy agencies.

The legislation would for the first time, require that those who provide counselling to women experiencing crisis pregnancies be registered and regulated.

The issue, which is something Labour Women have campaigned on for nearly a decade, was highlighted once more earlier this year by two brave young journalists who went undercover to reveal the true extent of what is happening in these agencies.

Speaking in advance of his contribution in the Dáil introducing this Bill, party leader Brendan Howlin said:

“While the debate around repeal of the eighth begins in communities across Ireland, there are women who right now are being lied to in the most grotesque fashion, at a time of exceptional vulnerability. Women in crisis pregnancy situations are being told that abortion increases a woman’s risk of breast cancer, or that women who have had abortions will later abuse or neglect their children.

This behaviour is an appalling abuse of a position of trust and power, and it must be brought to an end.

Today, the Labour Party is introducing to the Dáil legislation that will require those who provide counselling services to women experiencing crisis pregnancies be registered and regulated. We will push this through the Dáil as quickly as we can, and hope that we will have the support of all political parties in doing so.

These agencies are abusers. It’s time we all worked together to put their abuse to an end.”