The statistics released yesterday by the Department of Health and Social Care in Britain show the highest number of abortions ever recorded in England and Wales, with 278,740 taking place in 2023, an increase of 26,618 (11%) from 2022.
According to the official data, there were 735 abortions in England and Wales in 2023 where a baby had Down’s syndrome, representing an increase of 7.3% compared with 2019, when the figure stood at 656. There were 300 late-term abortions for babies with disabilities at 24 weeks and over for residents of England and Wales, including ten who had Down syndrome.
The report also confirmed that 235 women from the Republic of Ireland travelled to England and Wales for abortions in the same year. 130 of the abortions on women from Ireland were carried out under Ground E (disability) either alone or with another ground. 50 of these unborn babies’ lives were ended because they were diagnosed with Down’s syndrome.
As we already know, the official statistics for abortions in Ireland released by the Department of Health here last June, showed that 10,852 abortions took place in 2024, representing a massive increase in Irish abortions since the law changed in 2019.
While the number of women travelling from Ireland to England for abortions has dramatically decreased since abortion on demand was introduced here, it is extremely sad to see the additional Irish abortions shown in the figures released yesterday and the fact
that such a high percentage of them ended the lives of babies with Down’s syndrome or another disability.