John Waters has written an excellent piece in the Irish Times about the disturbing case of an Italian woman who was forced to undergo a Caesarian section and had her child forcibly removed and given up for adoption against her will.

He writes: “A pregnant woman, who travels from one European country to another to undertake a training course, seeks help for a medical difficulty and wakes up in a hospital bed to find her baby girl has been removed by Caesarean section and taken into care.

“Later, she learns that the child has been put up for adoption.

“If you imagine this is the implausible synopsis of some dystopian screenplay, think again. It occurred within the past two years in Britain, under the auspices of Essex County Council.

“The woman, an Italian who travelled to Britain to undertake a training course at Stansted Airport, was suffering from the condition known as bipolar disorder. Following an episode which resulted from her discontinuing her prescribed medicine for this condition (due to her pregnancy), she was admitted to a psychiatric hospital in Essex and sectioned under the Mental Health Act.

“One morning some weeks later, she found herself being strapped down and forcibly sedated. Hours later, she awoke in a different hospital and realised that her baby had been removed by Caesarean section. The baby girl was subsequently the subject of a care order and placed for adoption.”

Read the whole thing here.