Last December, I was on the London Underground when an ad from the Government of Ireland caught my attention: “The Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme is open for applications.”I assumed it was something like a truth-and-reconciliation effort, reaching out to people abroad who had been harmed in the past. But when I began looking into what these institutions actually were—places where unmarried pregnant women were sent to give birth—I realised the story was far darker and far more comple...
