Health authorities are investigating counselling services accused of harassing and bullying clients who sought information on abortion.
The Irish Family Planning Agency (IFPA) has forwarded details of women who say they approached agencies for advice, but were shown graphic videos of backstreet abortions, given misinformation on the health effects of abortion or who felt intimidated by staff.
Rosie Toner, director of IFPA pregnancy counselling services, said the agency was getting several calls a week from women who felt counselling services had bullied or harassed them.
"The manipulation, stress and harassment levelled unnecessarily at these women, who can be in a very vulnerable and distressed state, is very worrying. What's most disturbing is that many women put up with [ it] and think it is something they have to endure because they're looking for an abortion," Ms Toner said.
Details of complaints under investigation show how the apparent manipulation of women can continue over several weeks.
In one case a woman, who sought help in the mid-west was referred to more than four individuals over seven weeks. Recounting an interview with a counsellor, she said: "I was told that if I had a termination my kids would grow up to kill people. She also said me and my partner would split up and that when you have an abortion the foetus is torn apart. She asked me if I took one of my boys and chopped his arm off, how would I feel?"
Meanwhile, the Government has again been urged to create a regulatory body to police agencies providing counselling services for women with crisis pregnancies.
The call came last night from Olive Braiden, chairwoman of the Crisis Pregnancy Agency, after it emerged that a Dublin agency had told women seeking abortion information that a termination would increase their risk of breast cancer.
The centre, which has outlets in Cork and Mayo, has told a reporter with the Newstalk 106 radio station that most breast cancer is found in women who have had abortions, a statement dismissed as "utterly untrue" by consultant oncologist Dr John Crown.
The centre, advertised in the Golden Pages, also showed undercover reporter Aisling Riordan photographs of aborted foetuses covered in blood and told her a foetus would find a termination painful, and that she could be left infertile and with suicidal tendencies afterwards. The counselling she underwent will feature on a documentary to be broadcast by Newstalk 106 next Tuesday morning.
Ms Braiden said she had been concerned about rogue counselling services for years. "There needs to be a regulatory body set up," she said.