‘All women with crisis pregnancy need counselling’

ONLY one in three women with a crisis pregnancy have attended counselling services, it emerged yesterday.

Crisis Pregnancy Agency (CPA) chairwoman Katharine Bulbulia said the CPA would like to see all women who have a crisis pregnancy attending the counselling service.

“For that to happen, a women needs to be able to choose with confidence the agency that best suits her needs,” Ms Bulbulia said at the launch of the CPA’s 2006 report.

And, she stressed, regardless of the ethos of the organisation, crisis pregnancy counselling must be underpinned by an “ethic of care”, a standard that all clients were entitled to, regardless of which agency they chose to attend.

That ethic of care acknowledged the need of the client as paramount and was integral in the provision and conduct of all crisis pregnancy counselling services. Ms Bulbulia said that where a woman decides she wants an abortion — during a counselling session in an agency with a conscientious objection to providing contact information — the counsellor was required by the CPA to refer her to a State-funded crisis pregnancy counselling agency, that disseminates such information or to a doctor or individual counsellor who gave crisis pregnancy support.

The agency also confirmed it had offered a new three-year contract to Cura, which had stopped giving clients the agency’s Positive Options leaflet two years ago at the request of the Irish Bishops’ Conference.

CPA director Caroline Spillane said it was a standardised contract issued at the start of the month to organisations funded by the agency. But, when asked if funding to Cura would be stopped if the organisation failed to abide by the terms of the agreement, Ms Bulbulia said she was not going to pre-empt what the organisation might or might not do.

“They have an offer from us of a contract for three years. It is in negotiation and, really, it would be inappropriate to comment further,” she said.

Pressed on the matter, Ms Bulbulia said it was obvious from what she said earlier about the agency’s “ethic of care” and that formed part of their service level agreement. The same contract has been issued to the LIFE pregnancy agency that has stood firm on its policy not to distribute the Positive Option leaflet.

Ms Spillane stressed that the agency’s policy on the ethic of care for women in crisis pregnancy counselling had not changed.

Meanwhile, Cura’s Charlotte Keary, said negotiations between the Irish Bishops’ Conference and the CPA in relation to the leaflet were at an “advanced stage”.