Many sad stories have been told about the health system in recent weeks, often by women arguing for the retention of private maternity care in public hospitals.

Similar stories feed a new social media account created to campaign for “maternity choice” (@ourmaternitychoiceireland). It’s a small country, so hardly surprising that some followers and advocates have familial or professional links in the maternity field. Many insist they have no objection to the public system; in fact, they would switch right now if it offered the same conditions – continuity of care, swift appointments, private rooms – currently available only to relatively well-off private patients. But such seismic change doesn’t happen without a fight, as the stand-off between obstetricians in the Rotunda and Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill demonstrated in recent weeks. Those who can afford to pay can choose to join the battle or wait it out in comfort.

A popular post on the our maternity choice social media account warns that removing access to private care before the issues are resolved in the public system will put women at risk. This is untrue but no one pushes back. It echoes the many stories of people who paid so that their “much-wanted child got the best possible care” and who then felt vindicated because a late, difficult-to-detect condition was identified by their private obstetrician. This suggests that those babies or their mothers survived only because they were privately delivered for a handsome fee. There is no evidence for this,........

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