Number of Women Giving Irish Addresses at UK Abortion Clinics Decreases for Seventh Year in a Row According to Department of Health UK

The Crisis Pregnancy Agency notes the figures issued by the UK Department of Health today, showing that there has, for the seventh successive year, been a decrease in the number of women giving Irish addresses at UK abortion clinics. This is a continuation of a very gradual downward trend in the number of women giving Republic of Ireland addresses to abortion clinics in the UK since 2001.

Number of women giving Irish addresses at UK abortion clinics Rate per thousand women 15-44 years
2001 6,673 7.5
2002 6,522 7.2
2003 6,320 6.9
2004 6,217 6.7
2005 5,585 5.9
2006 5,042 5.2
2007 4,686 4.7
2008 4,600 4.5

Since 2001, the number of women giving Irish addresses at UK abortion clinics has decreased by 2,073. The abortion rate (number of abortions per 1,000 women aged 15-44) has fallen from 7.5 in 2001 to 4.5 in 2008.

The Agency has been gathering statistics to examine the patterns of women travelling from Ireland to countries other than the UK for abortion procedures. The Netherlands has emerged as the only other jurisdiction to which women from Ireland are travelling for abortion procedures in significant numbers. The number of women giving Irish addresses at abortion clinics in the Netherlands decreased from 451 in 2007 to 330* in 2008.

Year/No. of women giving Irish addresses in Clinics in The Netherlands
2005/42
2006/461
2007/451**
2008/330*

Speaking about the figures, Katharine Bulbulia, Chair of the Crisis Pregnancy Agency said: “I note that the figures have decreased for women giving Irish addresses in UK abortion clinics for the seventh successive year since the Agency’s establishment in 2001. We know that the only other country that women are currently travelling to in significant numbers for abortion is the Netherlands. The Agency will continue to monitor the numbers travelling to other jurisdictions into the future.”

Caroline Spillane Director of the Crisis pregnancy Agency said: “This is the seventh successive annual decrease in the number of women giving Irish addresses at UK abortion clinics. Since the Agency’s establishment in 2001, we have expanded the provision of free crisis pregnancy counselling nationally by over 50%, and have worked to raise awareness of the issue of crisis pregnancy and the supports and services which are available to people who have an unplanned pregnancy.”

*The figure of 330 is preliminary, but the final figure is unlikely to be significantly different.

**This figure of 451 has been revised upwards from 445 (compared with a press release issued by the Agency in June 2008) in light of additional information received from abortion clinics in the Netherlands.

ENDS

For more information contact:

Lorna Farren
Crisis Pregnancy Agency
01-8146292
087-6289831

Notes to Editors:

1. It is important to note that the anonymity of the women giving Irish addresses is protected – it is only the numbers of women giving Irish addresses that are recorded in the statistics from the UK Department of Health.

2. The Agency has developed a monitoring system to examine the number of women giving Irish addresses at abortion clinics in jurisdictions other than the UK. The Agency continues to monitor data from Belgium and Spain. The numbers remain low with less than ten women reported to have travelled to each of these countries in 2008.

3. The Crisis Pregnancy Agency (CPA) was established in 2001 and is mandated to provide for:
A) A reduction in the number of crisis pregnancies by the provision of education, advice and contraceptive services
B) A reduction in the number of women with crisis pregnancies who opt for abortion by offering services and support which make other options more attractive
C) The provision of counselling services, medical services and such other health services for the purpose of providing support, after crisis pregnancy, as may be deemed appropriate by the Agency.

3. Abortion Aftercare Services
For information about free post-abortion medical and counselling services, members of the public can freetext AFTERCARE to 50444 or visit abortionaftercare.ie