Trouble in Irishfamily clinics

Press, 6 November 1978, Page 4

Trouble in Irish family clinics

Family-planning clinics in Ireland had an uphill, battle i in the face of open hostility, i suspicion, and discrimination. [ said a former New' ,Zealand' family-planning worker. Mrs i Naomi Haynes, in Christ-: church. Mrs Haynes has worked for the Christchurch Family Planning Clinic, for the last J 20 years. She recently re-1 turned from an overseas tour, duing which she visited family-planning clinics in Dublin. Families of 12 children were not uncommon in Ireland, and "about eight” seemed to .be the norm, Mrs Haynes said. Because it was illegal to sell contraceptives in Ireland. the family-planning clinics were the only places' where these aids could be obtained legally. The clinics had to issue them free because of the law. “At almost every level, the work of the clinics, run on voluntary contributions, is hampered by Government indifference and public suspicion.” she said. An 18-month legal battle has just been won by the Irish Family-Planning Association against a ..court decision which had declared [its publications on birth control to be “indecent.”