Health Minister concerned about claim woman's details were leaked after she had abortion
The Health Minister Simon Harris has said he is concerned by claims a patient of a Dublin maternity hospital had their private information leaked.
It is alleged a woman who had an abortion was later contacted by a bogus counselling service.
The issue centres on a message being shared by a woman on social media who says she had an abortion at Holles Street.
A message posted on Twitter claimed the woman was contacted days later asking the woman to “re-book a scan”.
The person was using a phone number linked to a rogue abortion counselling service and an anonymous Twitter account.
The message states that after she had the medical abortion, she had an internal scan and was sent home after being told she did not need any other scans.
According to the message, she also received a text telling her to go to a clinic at an address in Dublin.
The concerned woman said she then contacted the hospital who confirmed they were not aware of the phone call.
The message went on to say that she rang the number to ask who he was. After claiming he was from My Options, he started to shout abuse at the woman and told her she was “disgusting” for having an abortion and asking if she knew about the risks of terminations.
The woman said she wanted to share the message to make people aware as she was “scared”.
The Health Minister said he is concerned by the allegations and has asked the HSE to investigate the alleged breach of patient information.
Mr Harris said abortion services should be viewed as a normalised part of the health service and women accessing them should not be intimidated or harassed.
The HSE is reminding people looking for advice on unplanned pregnancies to make sure they are dealing with the official My Options service or by phoning 1800 828 010.
