Number of women with Irish addresses having abortions in Britain falls
Figures released by the British Department of Health show in 2009, 4,422 women providing Irish addresses had terminations in England and Wales, a drop of 178 on the previous year.
The HSE Crisis Pregnancy Programme (formerly the Crisis Pregnancy Agency) also revealed a decline in the number of women giving Irish addresses at abortion clinics in the Netherlands, falling from 351 in 2008 to 134 in 2009.
Caroline Spillane, director of the Crisis Pregnancy Programme, said there had been a “sustained decline” in the number of women giving Irish addresses at abortion clinics in Britain over the past eight years.
While welcoming the reduction in the number of women who had to travel for abortion services, the head of the Irish Family Planning Association (IFPA) Niall Behan said the reality behind the statistics were grim.
“Every day 12 women must make the journey to Britain to access safe and legal abortion services,” Mr Behan said.
“These figures are compelling evidence of the need for domestic-based abortion services in Ireland.”
Mr Behan said the Government’s failure to face reality means that women’s and girls’ rights are being denied on a daily basis.
“The criminalisation of abortion has little impact on abortion rates, it merely adds to the burden and stress suffered by women experiencing crisis pregnancies,” he said. “Since 1980, we know that at least 142,060 women travelled to Britain for abortion services. This figure highlights the hypocrisy of Ireland’s laws on abortion, which are among the most restrictive in the world.”
Ireland’s abortion laws were put under the spotlight at the European Court of Human Rights last December when it heard a challenge from three women living in Ireland who had travelled to Britain for abortions and argued Irish laws jeopardised their health and wellbeing in violation of their rights under the European Convention on Human Rights. A judgment is expected later this year.
