While abortion is completely illegal in the Republic of Ireland, women do travel out of the country to abort. Thankfully, that number is dropping. Here is a press release from Family & Life, the Irish pro-life organization.
Irish Pro-Life Tide ‘Moving in the Right Direction’ but ‘No Room for... : 30th Aug 07
Abortion Figures Still High—'No Room for Complacency'
The number of Irish women seeking abortions in Britain has fallen by almost a quarter in six years according to new figures. This is the sixth consecutive year for which a sharp decline has been recorded.
The numbers of women allegedly giving Irish addresses in British abortion clinics has decreased by 540 between 2005 and 2006. Figures released by the UK Department of Health show that there has, for the sixth year in a row, been a decrease in the number of Irish abortions in Britain.
Over the past six years the figure has decreased by 1,631. Significantly, the abortion rate—the number of abortions per 1,000 women aged between 15-44 in the population—is also down from a high of 7.5% per 1,000 women in 2001 to just 5.2% in 2006.
Pro-life spokeswoman, Dr Ruth Cullen of the PLC, said that it “indicates the tide is moving in the right direction and that a trend towards abortion is not inevitable”. She said that “while any reduction in the abortion rate is good news, nonetheless the figures remain extremely high and leave no room for complacency”.
In particular, she pointed, “the Crisis Pregnancy Agency (CPA), has a responsibility to ensure that sufficient resources are put in place to provide real and positive alternatives to abortion”. This however, does not appear to be the case at present.
Sources in the abortion industry have insisted that the drop in Irish women traveling to the UK for abortions indicates that women must be traveling to other European countries.
However, Dr Cullen said, “there is no statistical evidence to substantiate such claims”. Figures compiled by the PLC show that there is a marked decrease in foreign women having abortions in that country. From 2000 the number of women from “overige landen” (term used to include certain overseas countries including Ireland) has fallen from 3,028 to just 2,167 in 2005.
John Smyth of the PLC said “these figures from the Netherlands clearly show that the number of foreign women seeking abortions there is in sharp decline. This undermines any claim that the fall in British figures means that women are traveling to the Netherlands or other European jurisdictions.” Pro-Life Campaign (PLC). F&L. The Irish Catholic. June 28.
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