11,000 seek help from pregnancy agency

MORE than 11,000 women sought help from the country’s leading pregnancy support agency last year.

CURA received 6,797 phone calls and 4,952 people visited the agency’s 15 centres here and in the North.

The total number of phone calls was down slightly on 2001, when there were 9,000 calls. However, more women visited CURA centres in 2002 compared to the previous year.

“This shows that there is a very real need for this service and its continuing to help large numbers of people,” a CURA spokesperson said.

The latest figures will be released today at a CURA conference in Dundalk.

Earlier this month, CURA appealed to the public not to prejudge the person who dumped a newborn child in Co Dublin.

“It’s a common myth that it’s mainly young, unmarried mothers who come to CURA, but we regularly offer help to women from older age groups who are faced with an unwanted pregnancy,” national co-ordinator Mairead Curran said.

“No one is pressurised and our support in unconditional. No matter what we are told we never judge any person,” she added.

‘Responding to Changing Times’ is the theme of the organisation’s 26th annual conference.

The agency was established by the Irish Bishops’ Conference in 1977 to provide a compassionate service for women unable to cope with an unexpected pregnancy.

Some 200 CURA volunteers from all over the country will attend the agency’s annual conference which will be officially opened by SDLP deputy leader Bríd Rogers.

Dr Sean Brady, Archbishop of Armagh will give a short address at the opening ceremony.

Speakers at the conference include John Lonergan, governor of Mountjoy Prison and Rev Colm O’Reilly, Bishop of Ardagh and president of CURA.

A series of workshops, chaired by a number of international experts, will be held on Saturday.

Among the speakers is Dr Richard Barr, director of Love of Life, an organisation that visits schools to give seminars on relationships and sexuality. He will address the conference on the topic of teenage sexuality.

CURA provides free pregnancy testing, counselling, social welfare information and post-abortion counselling. More than 350 people work for the service. The agency also has a school awareness programme where counsellors visit schools and meet with students and teachers.