Further drop in numbers of Irish women traveling to the UK for abortion

The number of Irish women traveling to the UK to have their babies aborted has declined for the eighth year in a row. Department of Health statistics for England and Wales for the year 2009 show a fall of 178 in number of women giving Irish addresses. This figure has fallen every year from 6,673 in 2001 to the present 4,422, a reduction of 33.7 per cent in the period. see report


Whilst it is good to see the numbers of Irish women seeking abortion in the UK is continuing to fall each and every case is tragic and more must be done to support women and girls who become pregnant. This reduction in numbers has little to do with the Crisis Pregnancy Agency (CPA) which has now been subsumed into the Health Services Executive (HSE) and which has consistently portrayed abortion as a positive option. The CPA/HSE continues to fund agencies that that are affiliated to and financially supported by, international abortion providers, that claim their counseling is non directive but at the same time provide information on foreign abortion clinics.

The drop in the numbers of women seeking abortion is due rather to the excellent and highly professional services of pro-life agencies. Clearly the CPA focus on reducing the number of so called “crisis pregnancies” is not the same as that of agencies that seek to protect the life and health of both mother and baby by giving women comprehensive information, denied to them by pro-abortion agencies, such as the possible physical and mental effects of abortion.