Abortions in the Republic of Ireland have reached a record high, government figures have revealed.
Statistics released by the Department of Health in Ireland show abortions have almost doubled in the space of just five years.
There were a record 10,852 abortions in Ireland in 2024, a 62.8 per cent increase in abortions since 2019, when a law permitting abortion on demand to Ireland came into effect following a referendum the year before.
A total of 6,666 abortions took place in 2019 and by 2023 the number of annual abortions rose to 10,033. The latest increase represents a jump of 8.16 per cent on the previous year.
Catherine Robinson of Right to Life UK said: “The 10,852 abortions in 2024 are a tragedy. Every single one of these was a unique human person whose life was ended shortly after it began.
“The number of abortions has increased dramatically since 2019, when abortion was made legal.
“Less than a decade ago, unborn babies’ lives were protected by law in Ireland. Now, according to the latest data, they are being ended at a rate of over 10,000 per year.”
The prevalence of abortion in Ireland indicates a dramatic shift in culture since comparatively fewer Irish women aborted until the law was changed.
Before the Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act came into effect, the number of abortions that took place in England and Wales for women who were Irish residents in 2018 was 2,879.
A further 32 abortions were reported to have taken place in Ireland under the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act, taking the total number of abortions for Irish residents in 2018 to 2,911.
The latest available data, for the year 2022, shows that 201 residents of the Irish Republic travelled to England and Wales for an abortion.
In the same year, Irish abortion statistics show that 8,156 abortions took place in Ireland, and of these, 12 were for women who had travelled from Northern Ireland.
This took the total number of abortions for residents of the Irish Republic to 8,345 in 2022, an increase of 186.7 per cent from 2,911 in 2018.
The report also shows that of the 10,852 abortions in 2024, 10,711 (98.7 per cent) were not carried out based on risk to health or life of the mother or on the basis of a condition likely to lead to the death of the unborn baby.
The largest number of abortions happened in January 2024 (1,056) and the fewest happened in August 2024 (849).
There have been a total of 48,984 abortions in Ireland from the start of 2019 to the end of 2024, according to data from the Department of Health.
The figures were released less than a week after UK government statistics revealed that nearly one in three conceptions in England and Wales now end in abortion.
Statistics on annual conceptions released July 9 by the Office for National Statistics showed that in 2022, 29.69 per cent of all conceptions in England and Wales ended in abortion, up from 26.54 per cent a year earlier.
Archbishop John Sherrington of Liverpool said: “We need rapidly to re-establish a culture of life in which the unborn child is properly protected in legislation.”
The percentage of abortions were highest in Liverpool (40.3 per cent), Brighton and Hove (40.3 per cent) and Lambeth, London (38.4 per cent).
In June, the House of Commons voted for abortion up to and during birth when an amendment at Report Stage of the Crime and Policing Bill to decriminalise abortion was passed by 379 votes to 137, a huge majority of 242.
Tonia Antoniazzi, a Labour MP and a Catholic, introduced the amendment to decriminalise abortion so women who performed late-term abortions at home with abortifacient pills would no longer be sent to jail.
Twelve other Catholic MPs voted for abortion up to birth.
Photo: (Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images)
