A WOMAN who aborted her 19-week-old foetus and then fled home to the Philippines will be sought by gardaí for further questioning if she returns to the jurisdiction, an inquest has heard.
The part-time childminder was 33 and living in Bray, Co Wicklow, with her boyfriend when she used a tablet prescribed for the treatment of gastrointestinal ulcers to provoke an abortion of her unborn baby, Dublin City Coroner’s Court heard.
An instrument was also used to penetrate her uterus as part of the abortive process, the inquest heard.
In a statement to gardaí at the time, she said: “I’m not ready to get pregnant yet. I inserted one tablet into my vagina. I knew, as it is a popular method in the Philippines.”
In a separate statement, the father of the baby, who has also returned to the Philippines, said she told him that she had taken tablets, which she got from friends in the Philippines. He said he wanted to keep the baby, and she did not tell him she wanted to terminate the pregnancy.
The woman, who had a husband and two children at home in the Philippines and who had been living in Ireland for three years, presented under a false identity at the National Maternity Hospital, Holles Street, Dublin, on March 24th, 2004, and said her waters had broken.
An ultrasound indicated there was no foetal heartbeat and the woman was given medication to induce labour and advised to remain overnight. She discharged herself early on March 25th and returned later that day, when she delivered a baby boy.
A postmortem by State Pathologist Prof Marie Cassidy found that the baby, who was between 19 and 22 weeks of gestation, died in the womb due to chemical- and instrument-induced abortion. There was no congenital abnormality and she concluded that the foetus, while it would not have lived if it had been born naturally at that point, would have been expected to live had it gone to full term. The postmortem found considerable damage to the left side of the trunk of the baby, which had not occurred naturally, and “was most likely inflicted on the child by an instrument”.
While examining the woman, doctors at the hospital also recovered a tablet of Cytotec, a medication commonly used to treat gastrointestinal ulcers which is not recommended during pregnancy. She later told doctors that she had taken three of the tablets.
“It is unlikely that this tablet could have commenced the labour process, but it may have dilated the cervix sufficiently to allow some instrument to be passed into the uterus to abort the foetus,” stated a report by Prof Cassidy.
A Garda inquiry was launched and the woman was interviewed under her assumed name by gardaí at Holles Street. She was correctly identified at that time.
She fled the country soon after.
A file was sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions, who indicated there was insufficient evidence to bring charges, and that the woman would have to be reinterviewed before a decision could be made about a charge.
Det Frank Sinclair of Pearse Street Garda station said there was no third-party involvement, as far as gardaí were aware, and immigration authorities were on notice that she was wanted for questioning by gardaí if she re-entered the jurisdiction. The jury returned a narrative verdict simply recording the facts.
Last night Choice Ireland called on the Government to “stop criminalising women who have abortions”, saying it left some women with no choice but “to undergo traumatic backstreet abortions”.