Women seeking support after abortion increased significantly in Cork last year.

According to the 2019 annual report from the Cork Sexual Health Centre, it provided some 236 counselling sessions in 2019 to women who had abortions – a 50 per cent increase on the 2018 figure when it provided 157 counselling sessions. Over 7000 Irish women had abortions last year (6,666 domestic, 375 abroad), an estimated 40% increase in the number of abortions in previous years.

The Centre’s executive director Dr Martin Davoren said he felt the increase reflected changing attitudes in Irish society—that it may have encouraged people who had abortions in the past to talk about them now.

The Centre saw a growing demand for all of its services throughout 2019, including a rise in the number of people engaging with services for sexual health, post-termination, crisis pregnancy, HIV, sexuality and relationship advice.