One of six women pregnant after being raped had abortion

One of six women who became pregnant after being raped last year had an abortion, statistics released by the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre show.

Four of the women kept their child and in one other case documented by the DRCC in its latest annual report the child was adopted.

The DRCC’s head of clinical services, Angela McCarthy, said the 2013 figure was low, compared to previous years.

In other years there could be up to 15 people who had disclosed they had become pregnant after being raped.

Ms McCarthy was also keen to dismiss the perception that the centre was dealing with such cases every day.

“If someone has been recently raped, they will very often be referred to the Sexual Assault Treatment Unit where they can avail of the morning-after pill,” she said.

Ms McCarthy said the report showed different choices were made by women who became pregnant as a result of rape.

“If somebody tells us they are pregnant, it is not our area of expertise, we will refer them to a crisis pregnancy agency and it will be for them to make a choice.” She said the DRCC supported the women by providing counselling as they would to any other victim of rape and sexual assault.

Ms McCarthy also said there was no pattern emerging from the statistics on women who became pregnant after being raped.

She said the centre records facts on client who became pregnant “but we can’t say there is a particular pattern”.