Ireland's shocking record on women's rights
OMFG, is this true??!!!
Ireland's shocking record on women's rights
Horror operations based on church doctrine, abuse, neglect. Ireland escapes criticism and largely ignores the victims.
Laurence Lee
17 Oct 2014
In recent months there has been a welter of reports about the horror of FGM, or female genital mutilation. The health service in the UK, for instance, is having to deal with thousands of cases, but because FGM is ‘cultural’ politicians don’t appear to be able to do much to wipe it out.
While FGM has become a real cause of concern in the UK – the former foreign secretary William Hague was particularly personally interested in it – nobody ever said a thing about a practice carried out for many, many years in Ireland which is only now being regarded as a similar human rights violation.
It’s called symphysiotomy, or the separation of the pelvis. Put simply, it involves sawing through a woman’s pelvic bone and cartilage during a difficult childbirth to open up the pelvis and enable birth.
It was banned in most places before the 20th century, but in Ireland hundreds and hundreds of women had it done to them, apparently because doctors preferred it to caesarian section. Why? Because c-section limits the number of children a woman can have, and once a woman has been effectively spatchcocked through symphysiotomy the doctors hoped she could have more and more. After all, this is in line with Catholic thinking on family size....
MORE at http://blogs.aljazeera.com/blog/europe/irelands-shocking-record-womens-rights
= new reply since forum marked as read
Symphysiotomy
The black area marked by a "5" is the pubic symphysis, which is divided during the procedure
Symphysiotomy is a surgical procedure in which the cartilage of the pubic symphysis is divided to widen the pelvis allowing childbirth when there is a mechanical problem. It is also known as pelviotomy,[1] synchondrotomy,,[1] pubiotomy,[2] and Gigli's operation after Leonardo Gigli, who invented a saw commonly used in Europe to accomplish the operation.
Introduction
Symphysiotomy was advocated in 1597 by Severin Pineau after his description of a diastasis of the pubis on a hanged pregnant woman.[3] Thus symphysiotomies became a routine surgical procedure for women experiencing an obstructed labour. They became less frequent in the late 19th century after the risk of maternal death post-caesarean section decreased due to improvement in techniques, hygiene, and clinical practice.[4]
Indications for the procedure
The most common indications are a trapped head of a breech baby, shoulder dystocia which does not resolve with routine manoeuvres, and obstructed labor at full cervical dilation when there is no option of a caesarean section. Currently the procedure is rarely performed in developed countries, but is still routine in developing countries where caesarean section is not always an option.[5]
Symphysiotomy results in a temporary increase in pelvic diameter (up to 2 cm) by surgically dividing the ligaments of the symphysis under local anaesthesia. This procedure should be carried out only in combination with vacuum extraction. Symphysiotomy in combination with vacuum extraction can be a life-saving procedure in areas of the world where caesarean section is not feasible or immediately available. Since this procedure does not scar the uterus, the concern of future uterine rupture that exists with cesarean section is not a factor.[6]
The procedure is not without risk, including urethral and bladder injury, infection, pain and long-term walking difficulty. Symphysiotomy should, therefore, be carried out only when there is no safe alternative.[7] It is advised that this procedure should not be repeated due to the risk of gait problems and continual pain.[8]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symphysiotomy
That was awful in the extreme.
