Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
A GROUP REPRESENTING parents whose children had or have fatal foetal abnormalities is calling for the phrase ‘incompatible with life’ to be discontinued.
Every Life Counts said the term is comparable to ‘retard’ or ‘cretin’.
Independent TD Mattie McGrath has drafted a bill attempting to have the phrase removed from official medical terminology.
Spokesperson Tracy Harkin said parents with children who are deemed incompatiable with life are “pushed toward one route” – abortion.
Harkin said she “absolutely” understands why some women in this position choose to terminate their pregnancies.
“We know the fear that this label strikes into your heart. Abortion is driven by fear and a denial of the humanity of the child.
Parents are being led to believe their children are just a freak of nature, like monsters, that they’re not fully human. And this is so wrong in this day and age.
Tremendous healing has come from spending just minutes with their child – whether it’s minutes or whether it’s days, or in my case eight years.
Harkin’s daughter Kathleen Rose has Trisomy 13 and was not expected to live beyond a few days, but is now eight years old.
Harkin said her daughter “deserves to be treated just like every other child and not to be discriminated against because of her disability”.
The group wants perinatal hospice care to be introcduced and for parents to be provided with better information and counselling options.
“Some of our mothers’ experiences have been very positive, others not so positive. Many are saying that they are pushed towards termination when they are given a poor diagnosis and not given any information on the individual case of their child.”
Proposed legislation
McGrath said the bill is “not trying to criminalise anybody in the medical profession”, noting: “We know how difficult it is for them, how hard they work.”
“We want compassion. What we want is a conversation about the wording.”
McGrath said he has received support for the bill from some fellow indepenednt TDs, as well as from members of Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and Renua Ireland.
He said he’s hopeful the government won’t block the bill, but added he’s not confident this will happen.
“I’m not – never confident with this government, especially the way they’ve been behaving in recent times on a whole range of matters. They’re not very good at taking private members’ bills.”
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Living and working in Canada earning $90,000 plus bonuses. How. Is this relevant to Ireland.
@James Fox: At the least, we could have the Euro equivalent in brackets beside it. $90K is around €62K to prevent others having to look it up.
@Longlin: With all of these it’s worth looking at the monthly take home, which when added and converted is about €41k
Median wage of these weekly journals is approx 70k a year salary ! Can we have a few more part time corner shop workers on €9 an hour and maybe a Carer / social welfare recipient paying extortionate rent for parity !
@Ríain HenC: they have to be the ones that get in touch. You’re not paid to do this feature I presume
@Ryan O’Rourke: exactly. If nobody with a low salary gets in touch with them first we won’t be able to read about it here. Against popular opinion these stories are not made up but real people.
This is the best one so far! Canada! Dollars, 31 on $91k, Dungeons and Dragons…brillant, I have my fingers crossed for the Afghan Shepherd next week.
@John Murphy: in fairness D&D is a bit of craic
Once I saw the headline I knew the negativity would just flow through the comments ,with the 1st 3 comments being as expected can’t wait to see the rest
@flexfinn: Incredible foresight.
$2,200 for a 2+2 in Toronto is VERY good value.
@B Collins: yup, a relative of mine is paying $1900 for a 2 bed basement in Ajax. I paid $1350 a month for a 2 bed basement in North Toronto in 2017. Things are worse there than here!
@Jen Mc: tell that to all the moaners on here, lol. Only they can change their own situation rather than expecting the government to pull them up
I want to be a Performance marketing manager
@Genera L Consensus: your performance just isn’t good enough I’m afraid
@Genera L Consensus: nobody ‘wants’ to be a performance marketer…
Not saving nowhere near enough for the money they’re making. If the plan is to every buy a place anywhere they need to up their game. I was saving more than that while renting on less than half their salary.
@Daniel Murray: where in Killinaskully?
@Daniel Murray: The numbers don’t add up. Their outgoings appear small yet they only have 6-900 dollars a month. There’s at least another 1.5k being spent somewhere
It’s a piss take.
@John Killeen: Not necessarily, you could have individuals that are high on life taking part. It might only really represent one percent of people but the other ninety nine couldn’t be bothered taking part in this.
Spend some money on a visit to a gastroenterologist. A specialist will identify exactly the triggers.
Where’s the relevance for us folks living in ireland ?
@Declan Holden: so when they return home for xmas next year you know how much you can tap them up for. Useful information comes in all guises.
Performance Marketing… ugh! making sure we’re all firmly engaged with cr@p we don’t need.
have your say