“Perinatal Hospice Care is the Answer,” says Precious Life’s Bernadette Smyth

      Today’s news that a paediatric pathologist in Northern Ireland has resigned because of the illegality of abortion in cases where an unborn child has been diagnosed with a life-limiting disability in Northern Ireland, Bernadette Smyth, the director of Precious Life, commented:

“Of course, anyone would be traumatised bringing the remains of a little aborted baby to the mortuary for a post-mortem. It is disturbing and horrifying to even think of it.

“In today’s discussion it was painfully clear that mothers and fathers in Northern Ireland are not receiving the care and support they need when their little baby has been diagnosed with a life-limiting condition. Many were caught up in the so-called ‘need’ for legalised abortion, but abortion is not the answer. Rather, our politicians, healthcare professionals, and the media must direct their attentions to the need for better provision of perinatal hospice care.

“Perinatal hospice care is an interdisciplinary approach to caring for an unborn child with a life-limiting disability and the family. The aim of everyone involved is to care for the child, as well as focusing on comforting the parents and family and allowing time and privacy for them to bond with their special baby, no matter how brief that time may be.”

So that no mother ever has to feel abortion is the answer in these tragic, heartbreaking circumstances, our government must uphold our pro-life laws but immediately implement policy changes to ensure better provision of perinatal hospice care in hospitals throughout Northern Ireland