THE number of women seeking counselling before having an abortion has increased dramatically. This follows the introduction of the abortion information legislation, according to the Irish Family Planning Association.
A survey of women shows the number availing of counselling has risen from under 40 per cent to almost 60 per cent. "The evidence provided by this data should give comfort to the Minister for Health, Mr Michael Noonan. As a result of his efforts the proportion of women availing of counselling before travelling has increased dramatically," said Mr Tony O'Brien, the IFPA chief executive.
However, he said, more than 40 per cent of women were still travelling without counselling. This should encourage the Minister to strengthen non-directive counselling services and to increase funding in this area.
"For women who travel for abortion it is cold comfort that so much of the funding for pregnancy counselling goes to agencies who have a stated policy of not providing them with the information they need," he said.
He said all women had an absolute right to go to Britain without counselling. But they needed an equal right to easy access to non-directive counselling near to where they lived so that they could be well informed and have a real choice in the matter.
The results are based on an analysis of 1,967 Irish abortions which took place between October 1st, 1995, and September 30th, 1996. "These abortions all took place at a time when new information legislation was fully in force," said Mr O'Brien.
The figures show that more than 15 per cent of the women who had abortions were in the 16-to-19 age group; almost two-fifths of the women were in the 20-to-24 age group, while just over a tenth were in the 35-to-44 age group.
The majority, more than three-quarters were single, while over a tenth were married. Just over 88 per cent were up to 14 weeks pregnant prior to the termination.
Women who gave Irish addresses and had abortions at clinics operated by Britain's specialist abortion charity, the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS), were included in this survey. The figures are based on BPAS records.
"The figures do not reflect the total number of women who travelled to Britain for abortion in this period. This sample is likely to equal 40 per cent of the total number of Irish abortions in this period and is statistically significant," said Mr O'Brien.