Maternity unit partner ban ‘is human rights violation’
Senator speaks out as campaigners stage protests outside hospitals
Irish hospitals were violating the human rights of expectant mothers by denying them the support of a partner during clinic visits and labour, an Oireachtas senator has said.
Restrictions on partners accompanying pregnant women to hospital were imposed by the country’s 19 public maternity units at the start of the Covid-19 outbreak to stem the spread of the virus.
Fourteen months later the bans remain in place, even though the Health Service Executive instructed the hospitals this week that the restrictions were not national policy.