On the 7th of December 2016, the IFPA brought together a panel of international experts on reproductive healthcare at a Dublin seminar. In doing this, we wanted to draw on their extensive expertise on best medical practice in relation to abortion. We also wanted to share our experiences, as healthcare providers, of how Ireland’s abortion laws, including the Eighth Amendment, prevent us from providing women with care that fully respects their right to the highest attainable standard of health.
Video
Watch the three-part video of the speakers' presentations, the introduction from the chair and the VoxPop of attendees to the seminar.
Dr Rhona Mahony, Chair
Master of the National Materniry Hospital, Dublin, where she oversees over 9,000 deliveries a year, a busy gynaecological unit and approximatley 800 staff. Dr Mahony is a Consultant Obstetrician/Gynaecologist and Specialist in Foetal and Maternal Medicine. She has a doctorate in anal sphincter injury following childbirth and has published widely in international academic journals. She was awarded an Eisenhower Fellowship in 2014.
Dr Caitriona Henchion
An experienced healthcare professional who has worked as Medical Director of the IFPA for eight years, Dr Henchion heads up the IFPA’s post-abortion services and has extensive experience of women’s health needs in this context.
Professor Sir Sabaratnam Arulkumaran
Distinguished obstetrician and former president of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO), and the British Medical Association; Prof Arulkumaran was also chair of a panel of inquiry into the death of Savita Halappanavar.
Professor Rebecca Cook
An expert on sexual and reproductive health and rights law; Professor Emerita and Co-Director of the International Reproductive and Sexual Health Law Programme at the University of Toronto. Professor Cook also acts as ethical and legal issues co-editor of the International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics, the official publication of FIGO.
VoxPop
After the seminar, we asked attendees why the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution should be repealed
Podcasts
Listen to a three-part podcast of the speakers' presentations.
More
Read IFPA's press release for the seminar here.