This article is from page 2 of the 2014-08-26 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 2 JPG
THE number of Clare women travelling to the England and Wales for an abortion has dropped significantly over the past 12 months since legislation for the X-Case was enacted by the Government.
According to figures obtained by the UK Department of Health, the number of women obtaining an abortion who listed Clare as their home, fell by 15 per cent last year. This is the continuation of trend which has emerged in recent years with fewer and fewer women from Clare travelling to obtain a termination.
A total of 55 women gave County Clare as their home address when travelling for an abortion last year. This compares to 64 in 2012, 83 in 2011 and 75 in 2010.
There has also been a marked increase in the number of Irish women who do not give a county of origin when travelling to England and Wales for an abortion. A total of 855 women did not state any county of origin when travelling to the UK.
This means that almost a fifth of all Irish women did not give a county of origin, which could mean a larger number Clare women obtained abortions than the figures suggest.
A spokesperson from the Clare Pro Life Campaign said yesterday that many women who travel to the UK for abortion feel that they do not have a choice in the matter.
“Any number of women travelling to the UK for an abortion is too many. We feel that, 12 months on from the legislation, we still need to sit down and talk about the root causes of abortion,” said Maura Garrihy of the Clare Pro-Life Campaign. “We need to support Clare women who still feel like they have no other choice but to have an abortion. We feel that part of the reason why the number of abortions are down is the increase in information that is out there. People are now realising more that a baby’s heart is beating after 21 days and it is not just a clump of cells.
“When you talk to women who have had abortions, many of them feel that they have no choice but to have an abortion.”