Over 300,000 women have requested information on crisis pregnancy counselling via text message since the service was established by the Crisis Pregnancy Agency in 2002, according to the agency's annual report released today.
The "Positive Options" text service provides a list of agencies that offer advice and counselling services to women who find themselves with an unexpected pregnancy. More than 61,000 such requests have been made so far this year.
The Crisis Pregnancy Agency has increased the amount of crisis pregnancy counselling services available in the Republic by 50 per cent over the past three years.
This year, the agency will allocate more than €3.5 million to providing suport and services for crisis pregnancy. Counselling services are free of charge to women with an unexpected pregancy.
Ms Olive Braiden, chairwoman, said although "significant progress was made" there was still some unevenness in the level of services around the country. She said that women experiencing a crisis pregnancy "need to know that there is a consistency between the services available in one part of the country and another".