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A protest outside the clinic yesterday. RollingNews.ie

'You can't handle the truth': Director of crisis pregnancy clinic stands by controversial claims

Patrick Jameson repeated claims about abortion causing breast cancer.

THE DIRECTOR OF a crisis pregnancy clinic in Dublin has today repeated controversial claims a staff member made about links between abortion and breast cancer.

A recent investigation by The Times (Ireland edition) involved secretly recording a consultation in the clinic between a staff member and a woman seeking advice on a crisis pregnancy.

During the consultation, the staff member can be heard telling the woman that terminating a pregnancy increases a woman’s risk of breast cancer and also their risk of suicide.

Speaking to Joe Duffy on RTÉ’s Liveline earlier today, director of The Women’s Centre on Berkeley Street, Patrick Jameson, claimed abortion is “the single-most preventative cause of breast cancer”.

“Even rats get breast cancer after abortion,” he said, referring to scientific trials.

The single most protective thing a woman can do to prevent breast cancer is to have a live baby.

When challenged on the issue, he told Duffy: “You can’t handle the truth”. People in Ireland are “being deceived because of the media spin”, he claimed.

Jameson also told Duffy a “woman after abortion is one of the most dangerous situations for suicide”.

 One of the highest groups for suicide is women who’ve had abortions.

Consultant obstetrician Peter Boylan also spoke on the show, telling the presenter women should be reassured that they are not at a higher risk of breast cancer after a termination – and there is respected scientific research to support that.

The risk of suicide is also not increased by a termination of a pregnancy – that’s another thing that needs to be debunked.

“Any arguments in relation to their rejection of abortion should be based on fact and not on scaremongering,” he added.

Jameson rejected research referenced by the consultant, instead repeatedly directing listeners to two websites that he said linked to studies supporting his claims.

He said women who go for abortions are entitled to be informed about these issues.

Meanwhile, another clinic based on Berkeley Street, Reproductive Choices, sought to distance itself from the controversy.

In a statement, the health clinic said it wanted to clarify it had no connection with The Women’s Centre, which is located nextdoor.

“Reproductive Choices is a specialist private sexual health clinic, which has been providing information, advice and services in Dublin for 20 years. We are proud to be a pro-choice organisation.”

Read: Simon Harris ‘sickened’ by misinformation given to women at crisis pregnancy clinic>

Read: How rogue crisis pregnancy agencies have been operating outside the law here for more than a decade>

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    Mute thomas molloy
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    Dec 14th 2023, 11:34 AM

    Interest rates have reached a level that makes borrowing to grow employment giving investment impossible.

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    Mute ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere
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    Dec 14th 2023, 4:13 PM

    @thomas molloy: Interest rates have been much higher in the past. At one point in the 90s, rates were in the mid-teens.

    The low interest rates we have experienced over the past decade or so are an anomaly, in historical terms.

    19
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    Mute Pato
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    Dec 14th 2023, 12:32 PM

    They will claim that they have achieved their objective in that inflation has reduced. They cannot see that their hiking of rates contributed to the inflation rate rise.

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    Mute Niall English
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    Dec 14th 2023, 12:37 PM

    @Pato: ehhhhhhhh no.

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    Mute John Terry
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    Dec 14th 2023, 1:22 PM

    @Pato: Explain.because everyone else will disagree with you.

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    Mute Donal McCarthy
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    Dec 14th 2023, 3:07 PM

    @Pato: Please do explain

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    Mute ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere
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    Dec 14th 2023, 4:29 PM

    @Donal McCarthy: I think Pato is largely correct.

    Inflation can be caused by two things:
    1) A shortage of some goods, or service
    2) A surfeit of money in an economy

    As I understand it, the inflation we experienced – and are still experiencing – was due to (a contrived) shortage. A shortage in energy, driving up fuel and electricity prices, which then fed into everything else. This was preceded by another shortage caused by the Corona virus pandemic shutting down lots of manufacturing, particularly in China – the so-called supply chain shortages.

    The way to address inflation caused by too much money in the economy is to remove some of that money. Increasing interest rates is one way to do that.

    However, increasing interest rates will not bring down the cost of electricity.
    Or petrol.

    When the (major) cause of our inflation is the profiteering of energy companies, increasing interest rates just puts more cost onto all of us, including businesses. Which can only recoup those additional costs by increasing their prices.
    Which adds to inflation.

    The best way to address such profiteering by the oil (and gas, and associated energy) companies would have been a windfall tax.

    16
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    Mute Niall English
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    Dec 14th 2023, 7:02 PM

    @ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere: pato stated that the interest rate rises caused the inflation which was incorrect. yes energy prices and supply chain issues were minor contributory factors, but the primary factor was 10 years of free money, which was then acclerated into turbo over drive during covid when physical money supply in the US and EU increased by near 50%. There were 50% more dollars/euros in peoples back accounts after covid then before covid. I do not believe we will see near zero interest rates for some time. I believe it will remain between 2-3% for the very reason that this new money had to be extracted out of the economy and it needs to stay there otherwise it will result in another cycle of inflation.

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    Mute ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere
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    Dec 14th 2023, 7:18 PM

    @Niall English: No, Pato did not say that.

    Pato said that raising interest rates “contributed to the inflation rate rise.”

    Which is correct, in my view.

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    Mute Snacktoshi Nachomoto
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    Dec 14th 2023, 11:06 AM

    Bitcoin fixes Central Bank Ponzi Schemes

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    Mute Kevin Collins
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    Dec 14th 2023, 11:33 AM

    @Snacktoshi Nachomoto: how?

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    Mute Darragh Condren
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    Dec 14th 2023, 12:05 PM

    @Snacktoshi Nachomoto: anyone who buys crypto currency is a fool and typically didn’t study business subjects in school. The government and central banks decide what Currency we use whether that may involve digital euro. Profiting from digital euro is foolish.

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    Mute Mic JHintl
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    Dec 14th 2023, 1:11 PM

    @Snacktoshi Nachomoto: I’m afraid you are not as well informed as you may think. Bitcoin is the real ponzi scheme.

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    Mute Derek Lyster
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    Dec 14th 2023, 1:14 PM

    @Snacktoshi Nachomoto: bitcoin is the currency of crooks

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    Mute Dave Hickey
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    Dec 14th 2023, 1:47 PM

    @Liam Clifden: but maybe the worst performing in 2022, so what’s your point??

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    Mute Colin Hoop
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    Dec 14th 2023, 2:13 PM

    @Liam Clifden: Actually that’s a lie, xrp has preformed better than bitcoin and that’s with a court case hanging over it head, xrp is up over 50 percent from its bottom this year, bitcoin isn’t up over 50 percent from its bottom this year,

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    Mute Niall English
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    Dec 14th 2023, 3:36 PM

    @Liam Clifden: bitcoin has zero intrinsic value. people like yourself are pursuant to the greater f00l theory. in order to profit, you need to find a bigger f00l to buy it at a higher price.

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    Mute Kevin O Brien
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    Dec 14th 2023, 3:51 PM

    Control the money control the people

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    Mute Argus Romsworth
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    Dec 14th 2023, 1:40 PM

    Great news. And well done central bankers. A solid victory over the ever populist economists.

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    Mute Wombleman
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    Dec 14th 2023, 6:39 PM

    @Itwaslikethatwhenigothere:

    I don’t think you’re correct in relation to a windfall tax. Windfall taxes do nothing to protect against profiteering, they simply allow the state to increase their tax take.

    Consider this. Company A usually makes profits of €100m and pays 12.5% tax on this. So they net 87.5m

    Now they increase their prices and their income doubles to €200m – the government introduce a windfall tax of 20% on profits in excess of 100m so they now net 87.5m on the first 100m and 80m on the second 100m – net profits have increased to 167.5m – why would that entice them to reduce prices?

    Even if the windfall tax was 50% – there is still no incentive to reduce as 50% of something is better than 100% of nothing. The only winner here is the exchequer.

    If you want to limit profiteering then a price cap is the only way it could work. Windfall taxes are ineffectual.

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    Mute Wombleman
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    Dec 14th 2023, 8:07 PM

    @Liam Clifden: Bernie Madoffs Ponzi scheme was running for 17 years…

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    Mute Kevin McCormack
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    Dec 14th 2023, 7:06 PM

    Happy Christmas from the European Central Bank

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