Irish abortion numbers in UK fall 10 years in row

The number of women giving Irish addresses at British abortion clinics has fallen every year over the past decade, it has emerged.

Data from the Netherlands, the only other jurisdiction to which women travel from Ireland in significant numbers for abortions, shows numbers are falling there too.

Figures from Britain’s health department show the number of women giving Irish addresses at British abortion clinics was 4,149 in 2011, from 6,673 in 2001.

The Crisis Pregnancy Agency, now the HSE’s Crisis Pregnancy Programme, was established in 2001. Since then, the rate of women giving Irish addresses at British abortion clinics fell from 7.5 per 1,000 women aged 15 to 44 to 4.1 per 1,000.

Stephanie O’Keeffe, director of the CPP, said that since the establishment of the CPP, there had been a sustained decline in the number of women giving Irish addresses at abortion clinics in Britain and the Netherlands.

The CPP said that while the 2011 figures from the Netherlands are not yet available, preliminary indications suggest that the numbers are low and decreasing.

The numbers travelling from Ireland to clinics in the Netherlands was 42 in 2005, 461 in 2006, 451 in 2007, 351 in 2008, 134 in 2009, and 31 in 2010.

Data collected and published by the CPP earlier this month shows that, of all women living in Ireland who have experienced an abortion, 94% stated that they travelled to Britain for the procedure.