Ireland’s latest abortion figures have been described as “devastating” by the Pro Life Campaign and the organisation has called for an “urgent public debate” to look for ways to reduce the numbers.
A Department of Health report showed that 6,700 abortions occurred in 2021 and nearly 20,000 abortions have taken place over the three-year period since the law in Ireland was changed following the 2018 abortion referendum.
The figures released by the Department of Health do not include the number of abortions carried out in Britain on women from Ireland. This figure is 775 abortions from 2019-2021, bringing the total number of Irish abortions to 20,718.
Concern has been expressed about a discrepancy in the figures because the abortion notifications to the Department of Health from doctors totalled 4,577, but there were 6,700 reimbursement claims presented to the HSE by GPs after prescribing two abortion pills to women. The Department of Health has blamed the low number of notifications on the pandemic and the cyber-attack on the Health Service Executive in May 2021.
The Pro Life Campaign said in a statement: “Not only were 6,700 babies killed by abortion in Ireland in 2021 but many of the doctors who ended these innocent lives didn't even show them the respect of recording their passing by notifying the Minister for Health as they’re obliged to do under the law.”
On the basis of the figures released, there has been a 70 per cent increase in the annual number of abortions since abortion was legalised according to the campaign.
“Senior politicians including Leo Varadkar and Micheál Martin repeatedly assured voters that abortion would be ‘rare’ should the 2018 referendum be passed. Clearly, this is not what happened. The number of abortions taking place under the new law is spiralling out of control. It is a national tragedy,” Eilís Mulroy of the campaign said.
She also noted that the only agencies the state will put any woman who is unsure as to whether she wants to go through with an abortion in contact with are groups and individuals that facilitate abortion.
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