You barely have to poke the Irish Family Planning Association’s latest claim before it falls apart.
In their 2024 annual report, they argue that there’s “no scientific support” for the three-day waiting period before an abortion. They base the claim on the fact that 98% of their clients over a 12 month period went on to access abortion after the waiting period elapsed.
What the IFPA doesn’t point out in their report is that their clients account for just 6% of the consultations that take place in Ireland annually. While the IFPA purports that less than 2% of its clients do not proceed with an abortion after the three-day wait, national statistics suggest a much higher figure – around 9% in 2024 did not go through with an abortion in the end.
Out of 12,641 first consultations in 2024, only 10,441 returned for the second visit after the three day wait. After excluding miscarriages and hospital-based abortions based on IFPA percentages for these groups, more than 1,000 women appear not to have returned and instead continued their pregnancies.
It’s not difficult to challenge the IFPA’s claims; the challenge lies in persuading the media to do its job properly rather than accepting the IFPA’s statements uncritically. With millions in state funding behind them, the IFPA portray themselves as impartial experts while openly advancing a strident political agenda. And that, too, is a problem.
Back in 2012, an undercover investigation brought to light that IFPA counsellors were telling women to lie to their doctors and claim they had a miscarriage in the event of any physical complications arising from their abortion. The Master of the Rotunda Hospital at the time said he was “shocked and disappointed” to learn that the IFPA were engaging in these counselling practices. He went on to say that he was “aware of cases where women have died because they didn’t tell doctors they had a termination which caused their womb to perforate.”
Once the story broke, most mainstream media outlets immediately backed away. If they weren’t prepared to challenge the pro-abortion side even when such shocking counselling practices were exposed, it’s hardly surprising that they still speak about the IFPA in reverential tones.