Newly released figures from the Department of Health reveal that last year 8,156 abortions took place in Ireland, the highest number since the referendum of 2018. This is exactly in line with pro-life predictions. Pro-choice advocate, Dr Peter Boylan, said the opposite would happen. Numbers also continue to rise in England and Wales, and Scotland to horrifying levels.
The official figures almost certainly underestimate the real number as the HSE revealed to Carol Nolan, TD that 8,876 reimbursement claims were made by doctors for helping women to terminate their pregnancies last year.
The official number of abortions was 6,666 in 2019 and 6,577 in 2020. (Figures for 2021 were unreliable, according to the Minister for Health, but GPs made financial claims for about 6,700 procedures).
The new report, which is extremely poor in terms of information, gives no explanation for the soaring numbers.
But it does tell us that only 0.3pc of those procedures were carried out because there was a risk to the life or health of the mother, while 98.6pc were carried out before 12 weeks, when abortion is available for any reason.
The report says nothing about the socioeconomic circumstances of the mothers, or the method used in the procedure, which are common features in similar reports in other countries. However, the vast majority would have involved the abortion pill.
A substantial increase in abortion numbers has been registered in the UK as well.
In Scotland, rates have increased steadily from 2013 to 2021, with a sharp surge last year. The 2022 abortion rate per 1000 women (16.1) is the highest ever. The total came to 16,584, which is twice our figure with a similar-sized population.
Last year, Scotland also recorded its highest number of abortions of unborn children diagnosed with Down Syndrome, which is, of course, eugenics.
Surgical terminations are now rare (1.2pc) and the most common method used are the abortion pills (98.8pc).
Figures for the full 2022 year are not available for England and Wales, but the provisional report that covers the first half of last year shows a huge rise in the number of 17pc compared to the same period in the previous year.
In 2021, the number was already the highest ever recorded.
In the first six months of 2022, 85 women resident in Ireland had an abortion in England. We read that 16pc of them had an abortion before, 56pc were single, and 98pc had passed 12 weeks of pregnancy,
There has been no comment from our government or from politicians about the constant surge in the number of abortions in Ireland, although Leo Varadkar did repeat this week that he want abortion to be rare.
Before the 2018 referendum, we were told that rates would decrease with time. Dr Peter Boylan said to the Oireachtas that “the rate of termination comes down once more liberalised legislation is introduced, for all of the obvious reasons.”
After four years of operations, official figures prove the predictions of the pro-life side, and any review of the current law must address this terrible reality.
