By Sarah Mac Donald - 07 June, 2015
Cora Sherlock
The Pro Life Campaign has accused members of the Government of “selective outrage” on abortion over their silence at the case of a 32-year-old woman from Ireland who died following an abortion at a Marie Stopes clinic in London.
A doctor and two nurses have been charged with manslaughter after the married woman, who was living in Dublin, bled to death in the back of a taxi in Slough, Berkshire within hours of undergoing an abortion at a Marie Stopes clinic in Ealing.
In a statement on Saturday, Cora Sherlock, Deputy Chairperson of the Pro Life Campaign said, “It’s very revealing the way members of the Government have fallen silent over this latest Marie Stopes scandal.”
She said it laid bare the “colossal double standards at the heart of the abortion debate in Ireland”.
“The tragic death of Savita Halappanavar was misused, massively and continuously by certain politicians and journalists to get abortion legislation over the line in 2013.”
The PLC spokeswoman said there was little or no regard at the time for the facts of that particular case which “showed the real cause of the tragedy in Galway was mismanaged sepsis, not the non-availability of abortion in Ireland at the time”.
“In the latest tragedy to come to light, a woman died as a direct result of the treatment she received when undergoing an abortion. But where is the political concern on this occasion from pro-choice politicians? Why the selective outrage?”, she challenged.
She added, “It’s very obvious that some politicians and members of the media are prepared to go to almost any lengths to avoid showing abortion in a poor light.”
Ms Sherlock concludedmby saying this had resulted in “a very one-sided presentation of the abortion issue which in the interests of women and their unborn babies must be challenged”.
The doctor and two nurses charged with manslaughter are Dr Adedayo Adedeji, Gemma Pullen and Margaret Miller. They are to appear at Ealing Magistrates’ Court in West London on 19 June.
UK police said they had each been charged with “manslaughter by gross negligence and failing to take reasonable care of other persons who may be affected by acts or omissions at work”.
The woman, who has not been named, is understood to have been 20 weeks pregnant at the time of her abortion.
The post-mortem concluded that she died from a heart attack caused by extensive internal blood loss.
The number of women living in Ireland travelling to the UK for abortions had dropped below 3,000.
