Numbers travelling to Britain for abortions drop

THE number of women who travelled to Britain for abortions dropped last year. The Department of Health for England and Wales revealed 4,600 abortions carried out in 2008 were on women with addresses in the Republic of Ireland.

A further 1,173 lived in Northern Ireland. There were 86 less cases from the Republic and 170 less from the North.

In the case of the Republic, 167 abortions were performed on girls under the age of 18.