The number of women travelling from the Republic to Britain for an abortion has fallen to the lowest level since 1980, official figures have revealed.
UK records show 3,451 women gave an address in the Republic when attending clinics in England and Wales in 2015, more than nine a day.
This represented a slight fall on the previous year and a 48 per cent decline in the numbers travelling to terminate a pregnancy since a peak of 6,673 was reached in 2001.
Women from the Republic accounted for two out of three non-residents attending clinics in England and Wales, while those from Northern Ireland accounted for another 16 per cent (833).
Still a reality
The HSE Crisis Pregnancy Agency welcomed the drop in numbers but said unplanned pregnancy and abortion were still a reality for women in Ireland. Free crisis pregnancy counselling services are available in more than 50 locations in Ireland as are free post-abortion medical check-ups and post-abortion counselling, it pointed out.
Detail on the women who travelled from the Republic to England and Wales last year showed 18 were less than 16 years old.
Some 46 per cent of women who gave Irish addresses were aged in their 20s and 37 per cent were in their 30s.
Some 135 of the abortions on Irish-resident women were performed under ground E, where there is “a substantial risk that if the child were born it would suffer from such physical or mental abnormalities as to be seriously handicapped”.
This category includes a wide range of medical conditions – including anencephaly, spina bifida, cleft lip and palate, Down’s Syndrome, Edward’s Syndrome and cystic fibrosis.
A county-by-county breakdown of Irish women who travelled for abortions shows Leitrim recorded the fewest, at 17, while Dublin was the highest, at 1,311.
The report showed 2,374 of the abortions were carried out in the first nine weeks of pregnancy and 112 were carried out after 20 weeks or more.
Some 644 women were married or in a civil partnership and 916 were single.
All of the procedures on Irish-resident women were privately funded.
The Pro Life Campaign said the figures highlighted the need to look at the reasons why women are resorting to abortion.
“Addressing issues like accommodation, financial assistance, childcare provision and other supports are all things that the new Government can do to help the figures fall still further and ensure that more women feel able to give birth to their baby in a society that welcomes them both.”
The Irish Family Planning Association said the data did not give a true picture of Irish women accessing abortion because increasing numbers are using pills obtained online to terminate their pregnancies.
In 2001, 6,673 women with an address in the Republic travelled for an abortion.
The numbers fell rapidly to below 5,000 in 2007 and again to below 4,000 in 2012.
The report showed 3,679 women travelled in 2013 and 3,735 in 2014.
