Sadly, mother doesn’t know best in Ireland’s rigid childbirth regime

I’M sure I wasn’t the only woman who shuddered when she heard that Waterford Regional Hospital had sought a court order to compel a pregnant woman to have a caesarean section last Saturday.

Lawyers for the hospital asked the High Court to compel the woman to have a section because scans of the baby were “not reassuring.” The woman gave consent for the caesarean minutes before the court was due to give its verdict.

That we came so close to denying the pregnant woman control of her body must make us pause for thought. There are basic rights at stake, especially as a leak suggests that new proposed HSE guidelines on patient consent would allow for the intervention of the High Court in the case of pregnant women whose babies are considered “at serious risk” because of the Constitutional protection of the unborn.