Major Irish media forced to retract ‘fake’ poll claiming most doctors support abortion

An Irish newspaper was forced to retract an article after it admitted that it had published a fake poll about abortion, misleading its readers into believing a majority of Irish doctors support the abortion of pre-born babies in the first trimester.

The Irish Examiner splashed the headline "75% of doctors support 12-week access to abortion" over its front page on February 8. The sub-heading read: "Poll of 400 medics shows support for liberalising abortion regime", and claimed that "three out of every four GPs and hospital consultants are in favour of allowing unrestricted access to abortion up to 12 weeks gestation."

The newspaper stated that the poll was conducted by the Irish Medical Times, but no such poll existed.

The source of the Irish Examiner’s story was actually a survey conducted on Facebook and Twitter, which was open to all users.

Dr. Ruth Cullen, an Irish pro-life campaigner, stated that “For the Irish Examiner to claims the finders were ‘the most substantial survey of medics on the issue to date’ creates an entirely false impression. Anybody, not just medics, were able to vote in this poll. The only criteria for voting was a Facebook or Twitter account. The flippant use of such faulty methodology doesn’t auger well for the forthcoming referendum campaign.”

The referendum will decide whether or not to remove the Eighth Amendment from the Irish Constitution. The Amendment, added in 1983, protects the right-to-life of unborn children. The current Taoiseach, or Prime Minister, of Ireland, Leo Varadkar supports the introduction of abortion businesses to the Irish Republic.

John McGurk, the Communications Director of the pro-life “Save the 8th” campaign stated over Twitter that he had never seen “a more egregious example of fake news than the story about an alleged Irish Medical Times ‘poll’ being carried by @thejournal.ie

So I came across this letter some days ago in the Irish Independent which...oh man made my blood boil;

Is this the Ireland we want?

There's been a lot of talk of extreme positions lately. Forcing a woman to remain pregant against her will, as the Eight Amendment does, is almost as extreme an act as forcing a woman against her will in the first place. Forcing a woman to have an abortion is equally extreme position. Repealing the Eight-allowing a pregnant woman or not-is the only reasonable course of action. From a religious standpoint, please find below a list of changes the Catholic Church has opposed in Ireland: 1944, sale of tampons; 1950, mother and child scheme; 1970, Catholics studying at Trinity; 1973, married women in the civil service; 1985, sale of contraception; 1986, divorce; 1992, right to information about abortion and to travel for abortion; 1993, decriminalisation of homosexuality; 1996 divorce(again); 2005, publication of report into clerical child abuse; 2010, civil partnerships; 2015, same-sex marriage. Here we are in 2018 with the Catholic church and its proxies trying to deny Irish women the right to decide what happens to their own bodies. Is this still the Ireland we want, the Ireland of mother and baby homes and symphysiotomy? This year, the Irish electorate can show the world the marriage equality referendum was no fluke, the modern Ireland is fair and compassionate and respects the right of an individual and respectstrusts them to do what they feel is best for themselves based on circumstances only that person can truly know. I am a practicing Catholic and still feel that everything comes down to personal choice.

If there ever was a motivation to vote to vote no, this will be burned into my memory as I cast my vote come that day.

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