Demand for a service to help women affected by female genital mutilation (FGM) increased more than 300 per cent over two years, a new report has found.
FGM is the partial or total removal of external female genitalia, or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons. It is estimated that at least 10,000 women and girls living in Ireland have experienced this.
According to the Irish Family Planning Association 2023 annual report, the association provided 55 FGM appointments in 2021, but this increased by 338 per cent to 241 last year. There is now a waiting list for the service, with the association saying it is struggling to meet the level of demand.
Association medical director Caitriona Henchion said the number of people being treated was “originally small” but from 2020/2021 migration from “high-incidence countries increased so demand has hugely gone up”.
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“A lot of the time they haven’t been in the country very long, they have no English and have lots of trauma from before they came here or their journey to here. So they are long and complex consultations,” said Dr Henchion.
She said the consequences of FGM include pain while urinating, passing period blood as well as extreme pain during, or an inability to have, sexual intercourse. People attend appointments to deal with the physical implications but also the psychological impact.
“We are at a point where one service can’t do it all. The way the IPAS [International Protection Accommodation Service] system works is people come into Dublin primarily and join the waiting list, but they could be living in Killarney by the time they’re called from the waiting list and they have to travel all the way here,” she said.
“There’s a need to have other services in other locations.”
Separately, the association also provided an analysis of the mandatory three-day waiting period for access to abortion services, which found almost 98 per cent of women who sought abortions there over the past three years proceeded with their decision.
Of the 497 clients who were verified as being subjected to the waiting period last year, 426 accessed an early medical abortion with the association.
The vast majority of these clients had pregnancies of under eight weeks’ gestation. Sixteen per cent were under six weeks, 38 per cent were six to seven weeks, 29 per cent were seven to eight weeks, 14.5 per cent were eight to nine weeks and 2.4 per cent were nine to 10 weeks.
Some 64 of the other 71 clients accessed abortion care outside of the association after the waiting period. They either chose to proceed with an abortion under GP care or were referred to a hospital for abortion care for a variety of clinical reasons.
Seven clients decided to continue with their pregnancy. This means, 98.5 per cent of clients subjected to the mandatory waiting period, proceeded with an abortion.
When analysis of the three years is completed, the proportion who proceeded with an abortion was 97.9 per cent, the report said.
Dr Henchion said the waiting period “affects some people more than others” and should be removed as it is “unfounded in science. It was practically pulled out of the sky. For some people, it’s a relatively small inconvenience but for others who discover their pregnancy when they’re further along, that can sometimes time them out from accessing care within the 12-week limit.”
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