A court case in Donegal has raised serious questions around how coercion is identified and prevented, particularly where abortion is provided through telemedicine consultations, a Senator has said.
Letterkenny Circuit Court on Tuesday heard how a man in his 20s forced a woman, also in her twenties, to take abortion pills at a location in Co Donegal on Valentine’s Day in 2020.
RTE reports that the man previously admitted he assaulted the victim and forced her to take tablets which caused the abortion of her nine-week-old unborn child.
In her victim impact statement, the woman said she wanted to honour her baby, and that she had “hopes, dreams, and a bond with the life that was growing in me.” All of that, she said, had been violently stolen from her “in a moment of cruelty” that she will never forget.
She said the man had taken her child, her sense of safety, and “a future that I had already begun to plan and love.”
The victim said she will “always grieve” her child, adding that: “I will always remember what was taken from me. Healing does not erase the loss, it only means I learned how to live with it.”
Senator Sarah O’Reilly of Aontú is calling for an independent review of telemedicine abortion in light of the case. Telemedicine abortion was introduced in Ireland during the Covid period and remains in place to this day; following a virtual consultation, patients can receive abortion pills by post to have an abortion (usually up to 10-12 weeks) at home.
The “pills by post” system has been subject to intense debate in the UK, where it was also established as a temporary Covid measure but later made permanent. Amid a rise in ‘pills by post,’ abortion rates have increased both in Ireland and in Britain.
Senator O’Reilly expressed deep sympathy for the woman at the centre of the recent court case who had been forced by her partner to take tablets to end her pregnancy. O’Reilly stated that the reported coercion represents a grave form of gender based violence.
“This woman was not simply unsupported, she was forced into an abortion. To see such an act of violence inflicted on a vulnerable young woman is heartbreaking. When consultations take place remotely, it is more difficult to be certain that a woman is safe and not being coerced into having an abortion. We can’t simply ignore the fact that telemedicine abortion means there is a greater risk to women and their wellbeing,” she said.
She referenced comments from Ann Furedi, former CEO of the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, who acknowledged that no remote system can fully eliminate the possibility that a woman is being influenced or monitored by someone else during a consultation.
“We must be honest that coercion can happen behind closed doors. A system that relies on remote assessment cannot adequately assess a woman’s physical and mental health. Our health care system should prioritise the safety of female patients.”
While noting that the Minister for Health previously cited a 2021 HSE review which concluded that telemedicine abortion was safe and effective, Senator O’Reilly said the Donegal case demonstrates the need for a new and fully independent review with a specific focus on coercion and abuse.
“A review that looks only at reported clinical events is not enough. We need to examine whether the system is adequately protecting women from coercion and gender based violence”
She called on the Minister for Health and the HSE to commission an immediate independent review of telemedicine abortion provision to assess screening processes, safeguarding measures and supports for women at risk.
“This is about protecting women. No woman should ever be forced into abortion through fear, pressure or control.”
RTE reported on Tuesday on how Letterkenny Circuit Court heard that the woman called Gardaí after she was forced to take the tablets, when the man left the house to buy a pregnancy test.
When he returned, the accused man was arrested at the scene. Gardaí seized his phone but he would not provide the pin. It took Gardaí four years to gain access to the phone, because of a programme installed on it.
The court heard that the phone was a vital piece of evidence, and that the man’s search history contained information on how to carry out an at-home abortion using the tablets.
An audio recording was also found on the phone from the incident when the tablets were forced upon the woman. A transcript from the audio played in court heard the man tell the woman: “I’m showing you what to do… take this… I’m dead serious… I’m forcing you. I don’t care, take it.”
A Garda told the court that the man was following a process that he researched, and that the woman was crying throughout the audio recording.
The woman had met the man on a mobile messaging app in 2019 and had fallen pregnant several months afterwards. They had decided to have an abortion, the court heard. However, the woman became pregnant again in January 2020 and she decided that she wanted to keep the baby.
RTE reports: “The court heard that the accused man may have had a belief she was going to terminate the pregnancy, but she did not wish to do so.” He had cancelled a planned holiday when he learned the woman was not keeping an appointment to have an abortion.
Letterkenny Circuit Court was told that the woman felt the abortion pills start to take effect after 20-30 minutes, and that she started to feel feverish with cramps. She was in great pain, and was locked in a room for a period of time and allowed to go to the bathroom, where she passed large amounts of blood. The man advised her not to eat, and when he left to buy a pregnancy test, she phoned gardaí.
The man was arrested and she was brought to hospital, where she was clinically examined in a sexual assault treatment unit and underwent a procedure to remove “what was left” of her unborn child.
A Garda told the court that the accused did not make any admissions on the four occasions he was interviewed, was non-compliant and did not view the woman as a girlfriend.
The court was told that the man has a number of previous convictions, post the offence, but at the time had no previous convictions. He is understood to be heavily involved in fraud and money laundering
VICTIM IMPACT STATEMENT: ‘MY BABY WAS REAL TO ME’
In her victim impact statement read to the court, the woman said: “I am here today to ensure justice is served and to honour my baby, my truth, and the strength it took to survive this.”
She said that the experience became something she “carried in her body, mind and heart.”
“When he wrongfully imprisoned me and caused the termination of my nine-week pregnancy, he took far more than my freedom,” she said.
“He took my child. He took my sense of safety. He took a future that I had already begun to plan and love.
“My baby was real to me. I had hopes, dreams, and a bond with the life that was growing inside me, and all of it was violently stolen from me in a moment of cruelty that I will never forget,” she said.
“While the world celebrated love, I was trapped, terrified, and losing my baby at the hands of someone I thought I could trust instead chose violence and not care.”
“I lost friends through him denying what he did to me and my unborn child. I lost the support I needed to help me through that time,” she added, saying that the man’s denial after the crime left her feeling “invisible and alone.”
“I will always grieve my child,” added the woman. “I will always remember what was taken from me. Healing does not erase the loss, it only means I learned how to live with it.
“I am here today to ensure justice is served and to honour my baby, my truth, and the strength it took to survive this.
“What happened mattered. My child mattered. And justice matters,” she said.
She said that while she had “lost herself,” she wanted the court to know that she didn’t belong in that darkness.
“Through healing and faith, I opened my heart again. I found love not only in my amazing husband, who treats me with the love, dignity and kindness I always deserved, but in Christ, who carried me when I could not carry myself,” she said.
She said her faith in God gave her strength when she was broken, and peace when she felt she could never feel whole again. She added that through her faith in Christ, she has been able to forgive the defendant.
“I have forgiven the defendant. The forgiveness does not mean what he did was acceptable.
“It means I refuse to let what he did continue to control my heart and my life,” she said.
“I hope he genuinely chooses to become a better person by the time his sentence is complete,” she said.
Mitigating information is being provided tomorrow before Judge John Aylmer in Letterkenny Circuit Court. The man has pleaded guilty to unlawfully ending the life of a foetus contrary to section 23.2 of the Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act 2018 in what is believed to be one of the first cases of its kind in the State.
The defendant has also pleaded guilty to a charge of assaulting the woman and causing her harm contrary to section three of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act, 1997.