Thanks to a parliamentary question submitted by Galway East TD Seán Canney, it has been disclosed that €9,519,300 was paid to GPs as reimbursements for carrying out abortions in the first three years of Ireland’s new abortion law.
The vast sums being spent on ending the lives of unborn babies in Ireland is shocking beyond belief, while not a red cent is being spent on providing women with alternatives to abortions.
It is most helpful nonetheless to have the breakdown in how the money is being spent as it informs the public and strengthens the efforts for funding to be allocated to projects that save lives rather than end them. Were it not for people like Deputy Canney, we would be left in the dark regarding how taxpayers’ money is being spent.
As the recent Amárach poll showed, 89% of the public support women being informed about alternatives prior to an abortion taking place. The refusal of members of the government to set aside funding to promote positive alternatives to abortion guarantees that it will become a major election issue next time round. Denying women access to information about alternatives to abortion is grotesque and indefensible. If it takes an election campaign to expose the truth and get a result, then so be it.