A group of nurses and midwives have written to the Taoiseach expressing their horror at the scale of the abortion figures in Ireland during the first year of the new abortion regime.

Marie Donnelly of Nurses and Midwives for Life said they “are horrified that 6666 lives were killed in 2019 at a cost to the taxpayer of close to €4 million”.

“This is a 40% increase since 2018 yet it was a ploy by you and others to urge a yes vote to insist that numbers would not increase when abortion became legal”.

She added that, as nurses and midwives, “we have seen the impact of the 2019 legislation on our hospitals and the underhand manner in which the provision of abortion was foisted on staff. Many were and continue to be bullied and ostracised. Others were shocked by the cases they dealt with not to mention the Holles Street case”.

She also described the five page report of June 30th as “trite” with “no information on age, number of abortions i.e. whether repeat abortions or the life limiting conditions of the babies or if some had Trisomy 21”.

“How many of those 6666 innocent lives and 375 in the UK, would have become future nurses, midwives, doctors and/or politicians. Instead their remains have been flushed down toilets and incinerated in hospital incinerators. What kind of country is Ireland becoming where human life is devalued and those who uphold life are often ridiculed. Even newly appointed ministers who uphold the right to life are ridiculed on social media.”