Brutal surgery of symphysiotomy was inflicted on Irish women

The former Minister for Health, Mary Harney, stated in the Dáil on Feb 23, 2010, that she has “ruled out an inquiry into symphysiotomy surgical operations”.

Instead she on that occasion informed opposition parties that she had written to the Institute of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists at the Royal College of Physicians in Ireland asking them to furnish her with a report before Apr 2010 into the number of symphysiotomy surgical operations carried out from 1944 to date.

This brutal surgical procedure was to permanently widen the pelvis, and was performed on nearly 1,500 women as they gave birth, leaving many of them incontinent and in pain.