Abortions in Ireland are not rare as we were told during the referendum they would be

Following the devastating news that 19,943 abortions have occurred in Ireland since the new abortion law came into effect after the referendum, we need an urgent public debate to look for ways to dramatically reduce these numbers.

Senior Irish 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.

The politicians who misled voters about what would occur if the law changed must not be given a free pass. The issue is much too serious for that and the public are entitled to answers.

Since abortion was legalised in the Republic, almost all of the media commentary on abortion has focussed on widening access to abortion even more. Pressing for wider access to abortion is indefensible when you consider the massive number of abortions that have taken place since 2019.

The idea that abortion is now legal and therefore all roads must lead to abortion is outrageous. Yet, that’s how government policy is operating at present. The Irish government’s Three Year Review of the abortion law has lost all credibility.

The minister for health Stephen Donnelly, who is charged with overseeing the process, has shown no interest in protecting its independence. Quite the opposite, in fact.

Over the past 12 months, he has met with ‘key stakeholders’ on multiple occasions to develop the framework for the review. He chose to only meet with pro-abortion groups and individuals and pointedly refused to meet with any representatives from the pro-life side, including his pro-life parliamentary colleagues who repeatedly sought meetings.

In addition, the individuals he has appointed to assist with the review have strong pro-abortion leanings, with some of them representing the most extreme elements of the pro-abortion lobby.

Meanwhile, for any woman who’s conflicted about whether to have an abortion, the only agencies the state will put her in contact with are groups and individuals that facilitate abortion and who have no experience in meeting the needs of women who would be open to continuing their pregnancy if they were reassured about the range of supports that would be available to them.

It’s a terrible indictment of the ‘new, enlightened Ireland’ that all the focus is on abortion to the exclusion of everything else. The one in three voters who voted No in the 2018 referendum deserve to be represented at the decision making table, but are currently excluded. This has to change.

The figures released by the Department of Health (DoH) year on year do not include the number of abortions carried out in England on women from Ireland. This figure is 775 abortions from 2019-2021, bringing the total number of Irish abortions to 20,718.

The fact that the DoH report does not have the precise figures for 2021 is unacceptable and the minister for health needs to take steps to rectify this situation immediately.

Eilís Mulroy, Pro Life Campaign