Read Eilís Mulroy’s letter to the editor of the Irish Times from 25th May

Abortion waiting times

Sir, – The comments published in this newspaper following Breda O’Brien’s recent article from two prominent pro-abortion organisations, Start and IFPA, attempt to dismiss the value of the three-day wait for reflection before abortion.

In their letter, the Southern Task Group on Abortion and Reproductive Topics (Start) mentioned other reasons why patients may not return for a second appointment. Start and IFPA have both previously estimated that 9 per cent of their clients did not return for a second abortion appointment, for alternative reasons other than continuing pregnancy – negative pregnancy test, miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy, pregnancy over 12 weeks, or abortion in hospital or abroad.

If we apply similar rates to the national figures in 2024, when there were 12,641 first appointments and 10,457 second appointments for abortion, there were still more than 1,000 women who did not return for a second appointment but were not accounted for by these alternative reasons.

Based on IFPA’s often-quoted figure of 2 per cent of women continuing their pregnancies, we would anticipate fewer than 300 women in this group rather than over 1,000 – which suggests that the statistics from IFPA, which carries out 6 per cent of first-trimester abortions in Ireland, are not representative of the country in general.

Meanwhile, the increasing numbers of abortions year after year come at a very high cost – not only for unborn children but for women as well, with many living with long-term regret and mental health issues. Referring to abortion as “healthcare” doesn’t change the stark reality that abortion is very different from everything else our doctors do: the aim is not to save life but to intentionally end life.

Normally in healthcare, a measure that saves lives, as the three-day wait certainly does, is taken as something to be welcomed. It seems those who are intent on dismantling the safeguard of the three-day wait take a different view. – Yours, etc,

EILÍS MULROY,
Pro Life Campaign,
Dublin 2.