There was a protest outside a mother and baby home in Cork today, the Irish Times reports.
Mothers who lost babies at the former Bessborough mother and baby home in Cork tied teddy bears and toys to the gates of the building today as they stated their hope to be included in any form of inquiry the Government is now going to order.
The founder of the Bessborough Mother and Baby Support Group, Helen Murphy, who was born at the home and left when she was seven months old said the vigil was part of a larger campaign.
“We want the truth to be known. We want justice to be done and we want Bessborough to be included in any form of inquiry the Government is now going to order.
We founded the Bessborough Mother and Baby Support Group as an outlet for all those whose lives were affected by this place,” she said.
“The purpose of it is to remember the people who were there and especially the babies who died.
“But also to remember all of the mothers who gave birth there. We want to add our voice to the call for an inquiry into what went on at the mother and baby homes, how many babies died and where are those babies buried. We want answers.”
This isn’t the home in Tuam in Galway, notice; this is a different one. There are lots of them.
Women who gave birth at Bessborough were not allowed pain relief during labour or stitches after birth, and when they developed abscesses from breast-feeding they were denied penicillin.
One nun who ran the labour ward in the early 1950’s also forbid any “moaning or screaming” during childbirth. Girls in poverty, who could not afford to make donations to the Sacred Heart order, had to spend another three years after their babies were born cleaning and working on the lands around the home to ‘make amends’ for their pregnancy.
No pain relief. No stitches. No penicillin. No vocalization during childbirth. THREE YEARS of forced labor.
God damn the Catholic church.