Northern Ireland abortions: Latest figures show decriminalisation encouraged number of abortions to double - Dr Esmond Birnie
Decriminalisation of abortion in Northern Ireland in 2019 has caused the rate of abortions among local women to double, a leading economist says.
Ulster University economist Dr Esmond Birnie was speaking after latest Department of Health figures showed NI women had 2,899 abortions in 2024/25, a 3.7% increase on the year before.
Dr Birnie responded that advocates for decriminalisation implied that women from NI would continue to have the same number of abortions after the law was relaxed – but to have their abortions in NI rather than GB.
Instead, he says that decriminalization has changed attitudes and behaviours.
He says an average 1,538 NI women had abortions from 1970-2015, so the latest 2,899 for last year “is roughly double that level”.
The latest figures "provide confirmation that the law change in 2019-20 has indeed led to a change in behaviour," he added.
TUV MLA Timothy Gaston said the latest figures show that Northern Ireland "has now lost over 8,000 citizens" since decriminalisation.
He says that it is now "undeniable” that the media was “deeply dishonest" in how it framed the need for legal change.
The media argued, he said, that change was required solely for “hard cases”, but the MLA countered that “8,000 abortions in four years since decriminalisation did not happen because of those exceptional situations”.
Yet the MLA said it was "anything but compassionate to ignore the social pressures — economic, familial, and cultural — that push women toward ending a pregnancy instead of receiving real support".
But academic and pro-choice campaigner Goretti Horgan welcomed the latest figures.
"My first response is to welcome the fact that the 2,500+ women who used to be forced to travel to England, or get pills from the internet, to end intolerable pregnancies are now looked after here, in their local hospitals," she said.
"Irish women from North or South used to make up the majority of abortions after 20 weeks in Britain. It’s good to note that, with local services, pregnant people can access abortion quickly."
She added: "If anti abortion campaigners want to reduce the number of abortions, the best thing they could do is campaign to reduce the cost of living, for more housing, for childcare and against child poverty generally."