In reply to a parliamentary question asked by Deputy Carol Nolan, the HSE provided data from the number of claims for combined termination procedure and aftercare. It showed that there were 8,876 claims made in 2022.*
Speaking on the significance of this information, Pro Life Campaign spokesperson Eilís Mulroy said:
“When Minister Donnelly made an impromptu announcement on the radio recently that there were 8,500 abortions last year, many people would have been shocked at this significant jump from previous years. But this new revelation from the HSE provides a more precise figure of 8,876 abortions carried out in 2022. Each of these abortions represents an individual human tragedy which should not be obscured. However, the spiralling scale of the abortion rate is alarming and points to the utter failure of the government to provide adequate safeguards and pathways to positive alternatives.
“There are several factors which could have impacted the 33% increase between the 2021 and 2022 abortion rate. The end of Covid-19 restrictions but the retention of telemedicine could have had an impact here. Telemedicine has caused a de facto erosion of the three-day waiting period by converting the first appointment into a mere telephone call. There are other reasons which could underpin this abortion rate, including the cost-of-living crisis. A combination of these factors and others will undoubtedly have contributed to this alarming jump in the abortion rate.”
“It has been incredibly irresponsible for the three-year review, which failed to present an accurate estimation of the abortion rate, to focus so heavily on dramatically expanding the abortion legislation. The review should have been an opportunity to objectively assess the impact and operation of the abortion law. Instead, the review and its “independent” chairperson have been used by the Minister for Health to run roughshod over government promises during the 2018 referendum and implement an extreme abortion regime in Ireland.”
Deputy Carol Nolan said:
“The evidence mounts with each passing year that there is enormous life-saving potential in retaining what little safeguards exist. Only the most ideologically embittered or those who are hostile to any contradiction to their preferred narrative can deny this.”
ENDS
Data contained in reply to PQ: 21931/23. 25 May 2023.