This week, the Department of Health quietly released the latest abortion figures, showing that 10,600 abortions took place in Ireland in 2025. The new data also shows that over 65,000 abortions occurred in Ireland since the new law took effect.
In addition to the under-the-radar way the figures were released, the latest Department of Health numbers come with an appropriate, if unintended, health warning based on previous annual releases.
For 2021, for example, the Department of Health released figures suggesting that 4,577 abortions had taken place that year, a drop of 2,000 on the previous year. However, based on reimbursements made to GPs in 2021, the HSE indicated that 6,686 abortions had in fact been performed.
The Department of Health subsequently admitted there was a discrepancy in the official figures it had presented to the public and gave an undertaking to rectify the matter. Almost five years later, it still has not done so.
If the official figures released by the Department are correct for 2021, then abortion-providing GPs fraudulently claimed close to €1 million from taxpayers for terminations they did not perform. The only other explanation is that the Department of Health underreported the number of abortions carried out that year by approximately 2,000. Whatever the truth may be, the Department of Health still owes the public a full and detailed explanation.
The figures released this week are marginally lower than those for the previous year. The more important point, however, is that numbers from both 2024 and 2025 reveal the truly staggering increase in abortions since the introduction of the new law. In the final year before the legislation took effect, there were 2,879 abortions. The latest figures show just how dramatically that number has risen.
In a press release on Wednesday, the Pro Life Campaign pointed out that, eight years on from the introduction of abortion, there is still no State-backed service whose sole purpose is to ensure that women who are conflicted about having an abortion can access timely information and practical support if they wish to continue their pregnancy. That alone is a national scandal.
For mothers and their babies, we remain resolutely committed to breaking the pro-abortion movements stranglehold on decision making in this area, forcing a shift in government policy away from promoting abortion and towards prioritising alternatives.
Nothing will deter us from achieving this outcome.