The UK Department of Health annual abortion statistics released yesterday show another increase in the number of abortions and in addition it shows that the number of repeat abortions is also very high.
According to a SPUC news release the latest annual abortion figures represent 190,000 unborn babies whose deaths were entirely avoidable. The figures for England and Wales show a slight increase in registered abortions over the previous year. Abortions were 8% higher than 10 years before in 2000.
In contrast however the figures relative to Irish women travelling to the UK, from both Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic for abortion, show a further decline for the ninth consecutive year.
The statistics released by the Department of Health show that in 2010, 4,402 women from the Republic of Ireland travelled to Britain for abortions, down from 4,422 for the previous year. It is the ninth consecutive year that Irish abortions have declined after more than a decade of upward trends. It marks a 34% decline since the high of 6,673 Irish abortions in 2001. Ireland’s abortion rate is now 4.4 per 1,000 female residents aged 15-44 where England’s is 17.5.
The number of women from Northern Ireland travelling to England for abortion has reduced from 1577 in 2001 to 1101 in 2010
Whilst it is tragic that any Irish woman (or any woman for that matter) feels the necessity to terminate the life of a baby nevertheless this continued downward trend in abortions is to be welcomed.
The recorded 34% decline in Irish abortions over the past nine years is an extremely encouraging trend and should be welcomed by everyone on both sides of the abortion debate. For years, abortion advocates claimed that an upward trend in abortions was inevitable. These claims have now proven to be false.
Those who constantly seek to change our laws to provide for legalization of abortion ignore both the humanity and rights of the unborn child and the long-term negative effects of abortion on women.
