There have been calls for the government to take measures which may reduce the “spiralling abortion rate” after figures released today showed 8,156 abortions had taken place in Ireland in 2022 – a significant rise on the 6,700 estimated for the previous year.
Pro-life organisation, Life Institute said that the rise in abortions “exposed a colossal failure on the part of the State to give women life-affirming options in situations of unplanned pregnancies.”
They said the “appalling rise” in the abortion rate “should drive a desire and demand for change.”
Spokeswoman Megan Ní Scealláin said that a sharp rise in the number of abortions carried out in 2022 represented a “horrendous loss of life” and that the government needed to take measures to tackle the rising abortion rate.
Ms Ní Scealláin, said that the “huge jump” in abortions represented a 22% rise on the estimations for 2021.
“8,156 abortions in 2022 is a heart-breaking number, and an indication that the government is failing women as well as unborn babies,” she said. “We were told abortion would be ‘safe, legal and rare’: it is anything but.”
“8,156 babies killed by abortion is an increase of 22% on the estimate of 6,700 for 2021,” she said.
“It’s clear that ending the life of a child is increasingly being seen as the default answer to the very real human crisis of an unplanned pregnancy in Ireland, something which can only be described as a tragedy for us all,” the pro-life spokeswoman added.
“The figure of 8,500 abortions in just twelve months is very difficult to comprehend. Such a rise shows an astonishing failure on the part of our Government and our broader society to offer genuine and practical help to women who find themselves experiencing an unplanned pregnancy.”
“Less than 3,000 abortions were carried out for women travelling from Ireland in 2018, with perhaps another 1,000 receiving abortion pills, and now we are seeing this deeply shocking, disturbing rise in the number of babies being killed by abortions,” she said.
“The abortion review should have been looking at measures to reduce the number of abortions, not increase them,” she said.
“Most people, including many reluctant Yes voters, don’t want an increase in the abortion rate – but the government seems to be rushing to please the extremists instead of heeding their own promise to voters that abortion would be ‘rare’.”
“One in 8 babies is now being aborted, missing from our schools, from our families, our communities. Everyone of those 8,156 abortions ended the life of a living, growing child. It’s a tragic, heartbreaking outcome – and it should give us pause. It should bring the government to rethink abortion.”
She said that the Life Institute was doubling down on its ‘Time to Think’ campaign over the summer – reminding voters that they had been promised the 3-day wait before abortion as a ‘safeguard’.
“Why would anyone want to increase the number of abortions, which is what will likely happen if we remove this time to let women think, to choose life?” she asked. “Isn’t 8,156 abortions in one year already a huge number of lives ended? Most people don’t want that number to increase again.
REAL LIVES
Ms Ní Scealláin said the lives represented by the statistics must be a focus.
“These figures are absolutely horrendous, and we must remember the real lives represented this appalling jump in numbers. Every single one of those 8,156 abortions sees a unique, precious and unrepeatable life ended – and a woman failed,” she said.
“With every abortion, a life is destroyed, and we lose a piece of our future. As a country we suffer, and as a society we suffer the more we see so much human potential snuffed out”.
“We are aborting our future, and we must rethink abortion before we do irreparable harm.” she said.
The Pro Life Campaign said that “the true total” of the number of abortions “may be even higher, as 8,876 payment claims were made for abortions performed last year.”