Women's Health Under Ireland's 8th Amendment

Is Ireland a safe or a dangerous country in which to be pregnant?

Ireland is one of the safest places in the world for pregnant women. The World Health Organisation [WHO] says that Ireland has the 6th lowest maternal mortality rates in the world.

A report published last year from the Health Information And Quality Authority (PDF) found that Ireland was one of the the safest places in the world for a woman to have a baby - and that it was "extremely rare" for women to die in pregnancy or childbirth.

See for yourself, as Irish doctors reveal that the 8th Amendment has never, ever prevented them from protecting a mother.

Ireland's maternal death rate is 8 in every 100,000 – compared internationally, that is one of the lowest rates in the world. A 2007 report on Maternal mortality by the World Health Organization, Unicef, UNFPA, and the World Bank, Ireland has one of the lowest instances of maternal mortality (maternal death) in the entire world.

Women are safer in Ireland under the 8th amendment – safer than Britain or the US, where abortion is freely available.

Ireland is so safe for a pregnant woman because of the 8th Amendment. OB-GYNs around the world adhere to that first rule of medicine and care: "Do no harm." So they come here to practise, where they won't be giving birth at one end of the hospital and destroying it at the other end. It is one of the few areas of the HSE that actually works well. Don't undermine it.