For abortions related to the baby’s diagnosis, over the five years from 2019-2023 a total of 208 (over 50%) of the babies had Down syndrome, and a very much smaller total of 8 had anencephaly, Edwards syndrome or Patau syndrome.Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns misled the Dáil on Wednesday when she suggested to the Taoiseach that 240 Irish women travel to England each year for abortions when their babies were detected to have a life-limiting condition, when in fact a small minority of these women travelled for that reason over a five year period.

Ms Cairns was raising the case of Denise Whitmore during Leader’s Questions, who travelled to England for an abortion in 2024 and who spoke about her experience in an interview with David McCullagh on RTÉ radio earlier in the week. It’s important to call out the way in which the Soc Dem leader conflated different abortion statistics as she’s now trying to lead a push to have the law changed to expand the grounds for truly horrifying late-term abortions in Ireland.

Rather than challenging the figures Ms Cairns presented, the Taoiseach gave an undertaking to take another look at the radical recommendations of the Three-Year Review of the law, saying: “The Deputy has indicated there are 240 who have had to travel to the United Kingdom. We need to hear from the experiences of those women to inform governmental and political reviews.” Will the Taoiseach be just as willing to hear the voices of women who were unaware, until after abortion, of the support available through the perinatal palliative care approach for women continuing their pregnancy after their baby was diagnosed with a life-limiting condition?  

Of the roughly 200 women who travelled to England for abortions each year from 2019-2023, two-thirds were under Ground C for mothers’ mental health grounds not related to the baby’s diagnosis. For abortions related to the baby’s diagnosis, over the five years from 2019-2023 a total of 208 (over 50%) of the babies had Down syndrome, and a very much smaller total of 8 had anencephaly, Edwards syndrome or Patau syndrome.

It is really sad how quickly the Taoiseach swings into action whenever he is challenged by the pro-abortion side, yet refuses to engage when the close to 11,000 abortions carried out in Ireland each year are raised, or when issues such as coercive abortion, babies being left to die after ‘failed abortions’, or the regret experienced by many women after abortion are mentioned. Regrettably, those same double standards and disregard for balance were once again on display during Leader’s Questions on Wednesday.