News

Crisis Pregnancy Agency Launches 2007 Annual Report
7th July 2008

The Minister for Health and Children, Mary Harney T.D., launched the Crisis Pregnancy Agency’s Annual Report for 2007 on 7th July 2008. The report gives details on the Agency’s work in 2007 and is available on www.crisispregnancy.ie.

The Crisis Pregnancy Agency was established in 2001 to reduce the number of women with crisis pregnancy in Ireland, to reduce the number of women choosing abortion, and to provide counselling and support after crisis pregnancy.

Speaking at the launch Ms Katharine Bulbulia, Chairperson of the Agency, outlined the Agency’s work in facilitating the development of guidelines for health service professionals dealing with crisis pregnancies:  “The Agency is currently developing guidelines for use by health professionals when dealing with a woman who is concealing a pregnancy. There are a variety of factors which prompt women to conceal pregnancy, and Agency research has found that women who conceal pregnancies often perceive strong social stigma attached to becoming pregnant outside of a relationship. These guidelines will assist health professionals in dealing with what is unfortunately not an uncommon situation, and set standards to ensure that women who conceal pregnancy are given support and assistance.”

Catherine Conlon’s report entitled ‘Concealed Pregnancy: A case-study approach from an Irish setting’ launched in 2006 recommended the formulation of guidelines for health professionals dealing with concealed pregnancy. The Agency is formulating these guidelines in collaboration with the Health Service Executive (HSE), West.

Ms Caroline Spillane, Director, Crisis Pregnancy Agency stressed the importance of making counselling accessible to all women who experience a crisis pregnancy: “Since the Agency’s establishment in 2001, crisis pregnancy counselling services have been expanded nationally by over 50%, with crisis pregnancy counselling now available at over 50 centres in 27 locations throughout Ireland.  The Agency has funded the development of a pilot training course in crisis pregnancy counselling at the NUI Maynooth, and the first students of this course will graduate later in the year.  The Agency has committed to funding this pilot scheme into its second year, with the aim of setting standards of good practice in crisis pregnancy counselling while enabling accredited counsellors and specifically trained volunteers to up-skill in the area.”  

For more information, click here

To download a copy of the Crisis Pregnancy Agency Annual Report 2007, click here

To download a copy of the Crisis Pregnancy Agency Report 2007 (As Gaeilge), click here

To view a copy of the 'Concealed Pregnancy: A case-study approach from an Irish Setting', click here

To order a hard copy of the Annual Report 2007, contact the Crisis Pregnancy Agency on info@crisispregnancy.ie or 01-814 62 92

Think Contraception Promotional Campaign - OXEGEN 2008
11th July 2008

At this year’s Oxegen music festival, 30,000 “Think Contraception” tins were distributed as part of the Crisis Pregnancy Agency’s campaign to highlight the importance of using contraception to prevent unplanned pregnancies and protect against sexually transmitted infections (STIs).

The Agency has been working in partnership with MCD to raise awareness of sexual health at music festivals each summer since Witnness in 2003.  The Agency has distributed over 120,000 “Think Contraception” tins at Oxegen since 2004. 

Caroline Spillane, Director of the Crisis Pregnancy Agency, thanked festival organiser MCD for its continued support: “We know that the “Think Contraception” tin is very popular and the summer festival season offers a unique opportunity to reach our key target audience of 18-24 year olds.  We have distributed over half a million tins at music festivals and sports events since 2004.  The Agency would like to congratulate MCD for its commitment to health and safety and its continued support of the Agency’s work.”

Each “Think Contraception” tin contains an individually boxed condom, sexual health information, an Oxegen site map and festival safety information.  “Think Contraception” tins were distributed to festival goers at campsite entrances on Friday, 11th July and were also available from Information & Welfare tents across the site for the duration of the festival.

For more information click here

Guidelines for GPs and Crisis Pregnancy Counsellors to Support Women with an Intellectual Disability Experiencing a Crisis Pregnancy
July 2008 

The Crisis Pregnancy Agency (CPA) and the National Disability Authority (NDA) have formed a partnership to co-commission the development of evidence-based practice guidelines for Crisis Pregnancy Counsellors and General Practitioners (GPs) on working with and supporting women with an intellectual disability experiencing a crisis pregnancy.

This initiative addresses a gap in the research literature which examines the areas of sexuality, pregnancy, parenting and sexual health for women with an intellectual disability.  Research on the area is limited, both in an Irish context and internationally (NDA, 2007). Existing Irish data on access to health services for women with disabilities suggests that such women are receiving less than adequate preventative health and social work services in comparison to other European countries (National Women’s Council of Ireland, 2005; D’Eath et al. 2005).

Commenting on the guidelines at the CPA Annual Report 2007 launch, Ms Katharine Bulbulia said: “Research into sexuality, pregnancy, parenting and sexual health for women with an intellectual disability is limited, both in Ireland and internationally, but existing data suggests that disabled women in Ireland are receiving less than adequate preventative health and social work services in comparison to other countries.  Women with intellectual disabilities are among those least likely to receive quality prenatal care, prompting an urgent need to address their vulnerable status.”

Improving the Accessibility of Crisis Pregnancy Counselling Services - Recent Service Development

As part of the Agency's strategic objective to improve access to and the delivery of free crisis pregnancy counselling and post termination counselling services the Agency has supported the development and opening of the following new services.

Official launch of new CURA outreach service in Dingle, Co Kerry June 2008

A new CURA crisis pregnancy counselling outreach service is now available in Dingle.

The new centre is located at the Dingle Primary Care Centre on Green Street, Dingle, and is open from 2pm to 4pm on Saturdays and is free of charge.

For more information about the outreach service phone 066 - 712 7355 or Lo Call 1850 62 26 26.

Opening of new IFPA service in Gorey, Co. Wexford
June 2008

The Irish Family Planning Association (IFPA) has recently opened a new crisis pregnancy counselling service in Wexford. The service operates from Gorey town. Appointments can be made for Tuesdays although this may vary and appointments may be available on alternative days. This service is free of charge. 

For more information about the service contact the IFPA on 1850 49 50 51.

Fem Plus in Blanchardstown, Dublin 15

This new crisis pregnancy counselling and related medical service based at a Women’s Health Clinic in Blanchardstown opened on a pilot basis in September 2007. Appointments can be made for Mondays although this is flexible to clients needs. This service is free of charge.

For more information about the service contact Fem Plus on 01 821 0999.

Pact service in Cavan-Monaghan

The Pact service in Cavan which commenced service delivery in September 2007 is available on an outreach basis serving the Cavan-Monaghan area. Appointments can be made for Wednesdays although this can vary and appointments may be available on alternative days. This service is free of charge.

For more information about the outreach service phone the Pactline on 1850 67 33 33.

IFPA service in Monaghan

The Irish Family Planning Association (IFPA) opened a crisis pregnancy counselling service in Monaghan in May 2007. Appointments can be made for Fridays. This service is free of charge. 

For more information about the service contact the IFPA on 1850 49 50 51.

This brings the total number of front line services available across the country to 57. These services are delivered through contractual agreements with 14 service providers.  For a list of these agencies, members of the public can freetext the word list to 50444 or visit positiveoptions.ie.        

Provision of grant assistance to improve access to crisis pregnancy counselling services where gaps have been indentified is integral to the work of the Agency. This work is also influenced by the importance of choice so that the spread of services offers the person experiencing a crisis pregnancy a choice in terms of both location and service type.

In order to ensure that this work continues to be evidence based the Agency is planning on commissioning a needs analysis for crisis pregnancy and post termination service development in 2008. The results of this study will inform any future service development commitments.

Decommitment and Mainstreaming

Youth Health Service, Cork

The Agency has an objective of prioritising the funding of innovative models of service delivery in order to identify successful models that have potential for national roll-out.  The Agency funded the Youth Health Service (YHS) in Cork to provide a comprehensive sexual health, information and counselling service for young people under 25 as part of this strategic approach. This innovative, youth friendly service is the first service of its kind in Ireland. The Agency has funded the sexual health services provided by the YHS in Cork since 2003. This service provides sexual health information and advice and general sexual health services for young people. The work of this service is strongly focused on prevention.

The Agency’s commitment to this element of the YHS’s service provision ended on 30th June 2008.  The Agency is strongly supportive of the provision of youth friendly health services as provided by the YHS and is working to support the HSE South in mainstreaming this service. The Agency is delighted that this service will continue to be funded in 2008 and wishes it every success in the future. As part of its commitment to improving the accessibility of counselling services the Agency is continuing to fund the crisis pregnancy counselling services provided by the YHS until 2010.

For more information on this service click here