DPP will not prosecute crisis pregnancy services

The Director of Public Prosecutions will not prosecute several crisis pregnancy counselling services for alleged breaches in the law arising from an undercover investigation by women posing as clients.

An Garda Síochána investigated the incidents and asked the HSE to delay publishing the report of an audit of the services, carried out in the first half of 2013.

The HSE has now released the audit report.

The audit, overseen by Brigid McManus, former secretary general of the Department of Education and Skills, was to ensure the services adhered to good practice, provided good quality services and operated within the law.

This comes after a group of women posing as pregnant clients secretly recorded counsellors at 11 State-funded centres across the country.

The recordings were provided to a newspaper, which published an article in October 2012 containing allegations about the manner in which counselling sessions were conducted.

In several instances, the women were advised to conceal abortions from their doctors in the event they required post-abortion medical assistance.*

Six centres, including four involved in the investigation, were chosen to take part in the audit.

The audit team found that some services did not have policies in place regarding quality assurance, supervision and the Abortion Information Act.

The audit also found that policies and guidelines reviewed did not adequately address the issue of disclosure of a termination in a medical setting should a woman experience complication post abortion. Nor did the policies and guidelines adequately address the issue of accessing the abortion pill through online sources in Ireland.

The report also stated all HSE and HSE-funded crisis pregnancy counselling services should be required to have a specific protocols on the services and information to be provided with regard to asylum seekers and non-Irish nationals.

The report recommended services be required to develop policies and guidelines on these and other topics.

"The HSE Crisis Pregnancy Programme and the services it funds have implemented a range of actions to ensure that the recommendations of the audit are being implemented," said Dr Cate Hartigan, assistant national director for Health Promotion and Improvement.

The HSE has advised counselling services that a woman should always be encouraged to reveal her full pregnancy history to healthcare professionals, as not doing so could result in misdiagnosis and subsequent problems.

The HSE has also advised counsellors to clarify it is illegal to purchase medicines online and it is unsafe to take the abortion pill without medical supervision.

It also instructed counsellors to tell women experiencing complications arising from the abortion pill to not be afraid to get treatment.

*This article was edited on Friday, December 12th, 2014.