David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I was contacted by a constituent both of mine and the Minister of State named Natasha and she asked me to read into the record her experience. She states:

I want to tell you my story and I hope that the Government will soon reverse the decisions it has made to underestimate the need for women to have some support during their pregnancy. I have two gorgeous little boys. I surprisingly fell pregnant for the fourth time. My partner and I lost our first baby to a miscarriage in 2016.

I am sure you can imagine the first few weeks after finding out we were expecting again were pretty stressful and filled with anxiety and fear over having a 13-month-old and newborn. But then as the weeks went on that fear turned into hope and love for another beautiful perfect little bundle of joy that would complete our family.

Eight weeks into the pregnancy I started to bleed. I was called to University Hospital Waterford. I got to the hospital and had to make my way in alone. I waited in the corridor alone. I was seen by a lovely doctor and midwife, who checked me out and found a polyp. When the doctor started scanning me I could see her face change. She explained she was going to see her senior doctor, who would come to check as she had more experience, and left me in the room alone. I cried when I found out that I had lost the baby and I had to experience this on my own. The only person who was there to hug me was a doctor, not my partner.

Natasha is not alone and the Minister of State knows many women are in a similar position. I ask her to look at this compassionately to ensure such scenarios do not happen again.

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