The news this week that the HSE will roll out a pilot scheme in some hospitals to collect more detailed data on abortion in Ireland is a welcome development.
That said, this change is arriving seven years too late – something the Pro Life Campaign and others had repeatedly called for back in 2018.
Had proper data collection been in place from the outset, it’s likely that some of the adverse incidents affecting women’s health during or after abortion procedures could have been avoided. While we can only speculate, one thing is certain: the more comprehensive the data, the clearer our understanding of abortion’s real impact in Ireland.
Until now, the Department of Health has only released crude figures – basic year-on-year totals of the number of abortions performed.
The reluctance to collect more detailed data was clearly linked to an unwillingness to provoke public scrutiny or deeper discussion about what’s really happening under the current abortion regime.
Take the case of the woman in Limerick who almost died following complications from an undetected ectopic pregnancy, two weeks after her medical abortion. It’s just one example that highlighted the need for greater transparency and collection of data to identify and track what precisely is taking place under the law and, in this particular case, whether better ultrasound scanning should be mandated across the country.
The less data that’s made available, the greater the risk posed to women as well as to the unborn baby. Hopefully, the penny has finally dropped in the Department of Health that burying critical information in this area is an untenable position to hold.
While it remains to be seen how detailed the new data collection process will be, this week’s announcement is undoubtedly a step in the right direction. We will continue to press for total transparency and a full account of what is happening under Ireland’s life-ending abortion regime.
This development also proves that detailed data collection does not compromise the anonymity of women accessing abortion – contrary to what some senior government figures claimed when resisting more robust reporting over the past seven years. It also vindicates the efforts of pro-life Oireachtas members, who fought to include stronger data requirements in the original legislation.