Sinead O’Connor claims she was encouraged to have an abortion by record executive and doctor

Singer-songwriter claims she was told she “owed it to” the record label not to have her first child

Sinead O’Connor has claimed she was once encouraged to have an abortion by a doctor and record executive.

The Irish singer-songwriter was signed to Ensign Records at the time.

According to O’Connor, she visited the doctor after learning she was pregnant, on the advice of label executive Nigel Grainge.

The doctor then allegedly told her that Grainge had contacted him and asked him to “impress upon” O’Connor a warning about proceeding with the pregnancy.

“Your record company has spent £100,000 recording your album. You owe it to them not to have this baby,” she recalls the doctor saying.

“Furthermore,” writes O’Connor, “he informed me that if I flew while pregnant, my baby would be damaged. And anyway, if I was going to be a musician I ought not to have babies because a woman shouldn’t leave her baby to go on tour and at the same time a child can’t be taken on tour.”

O’Connor would go on to ignore the advice, and would give birth to her first child, Jake. The baby was fathered by music producer John Reynolds, later O’Connor’s first husband.

The Ensign label is currently defunct.

Rememberings is published by Sandycove and available in hardback from 1 June.