IRELAND
National Catholic Reporter
January 12, 2021
By Joe Little
An Irish government investigation has found that death rates among “illegitimate” infants in southern Ireland’s religious-run mother and baby homes during parts of the 1930s and 1940s were twice that of the national average.
The report, released Jan. 12, says the frequently Catholic-run homes “did not save the lives of ‘illegitimate’ children; in fact, they appear to have significantly reduced their prospects of survival.”
The quasi-judicial probe also found that the proportion of unmarried mothers admitted to the homes during the last century was probably the highest in the world.
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