'I saved precious babies from pills-by-post terminations... but nearly paid with my career': NHS consultant tells how he beat a 'campaign' to have him struck off for 'abortion reversals' he provided to 65 women for free

Daily Mail ^ | 5 March 2022 | Stephen Adams and Jo Macfarlane

[Trillian]

For any NHS doctor, bringing new life into the world is an extraordinary privilege. And for Dr Dermot Kearney, smiling fondly at the trio of babies gurgling happily by his side, the knowledge that he played a small but crucial role in their arrival is particularly poignant.

But these three infants may never have been born were it not for his courageous intervention. The battles their families – and Dr Kearney – have fought have been deeply personal as well as medical.

In each case their mothers had, for their own reasons, chosen to start an abortion using NHS pills to terminate pregnancy.

Almost instantly, each of them became consumed with regret and desperate to reverse the process after taking the first of two tablets that sets it in motion.

Scouring the internet for an answer, they came across the details of Dr Kearney who, they discovered, was prescribing a hormone naturally found in the body which supports pregnancy. He became a saviour to them and their babies.

In just 12 months, the medic says, the unlicensed treatment – not available on the NHS – has preserved the lives of up to 32 babies in the UK, and saved their mothers from a lifetime of potential turmoil at their decision.

Indeed, the babies' doting parents will forever be indebted to this softly spoken Irishman, who they describe as a lifesaver.

However, for this compassionate service – which he provided for no fee and which is deeply rooted in his Christian faith – Dr Kearney found himself subject to an investigation by the doctors' regulator, the General Medical Council, which could have seen him struck off.

Last May he was banned from providing the treatment after complaints were made by abortion provider MSI Reproductive Choices, formerly known as Marie Stopes.