The number of women seeking post-abortion counselling at a sexual health clinic in Cork more than doubled last year compared with 2017, according to its annual report.

The Sexual Health Centre provided 157 sessions of post-termination counselling last year, compared with 77 in the previous year.

Some of those coming for counselling had abortions up to 20 years ago, said director of services Catherine Kennedy.

“For us there were a number of things happening last year where people really opened up a lot more about crisis pregnancies, terminations, sexual health and their concerns about all these, and to talk about them. There was obviously a lot of coverage around abortion with the referendum, people were telling their stories and talking about difficult decisions and their impact on them.

“Women and couples weren’t coming only about recent terminations, but also about terminations five, 10, 15 or 20 years ago. There was a lot of coverage of fatal foetal abnormalities. It can be a very difficult decision to have a termination in those circumstances and people came for counselling about that.”

Last Year, TDs Lisa Chambers, FF, and Kate O’Connell, FG, were both criticised for saying that abortion was a “makey-uppy” thing.