The number of Irish women who had abortions in Britain between 1989 and last year almost doubled, according to a Sexual Health Study for Cork and Kerry launched yesterday by the Southern Health Board.
According to the study document published by the SHB, in 1989 some 3,721 Irish women travelled to Britain for abortions, but last year the figure was 6,500.
The latest figure represents women who gave Irish addresses at British clinics and are probably a significant under-estimation of the true situation which would also include Irish women who did not give their home addresses, the board said.
The SHB announced its 10 year sexual health strategy for the southern region, which will cost £5 million to implement,
The board said the number of women seeking abortions in Britain was an indication that despite the sometimes traumatic debate in Ireland on abortion and the increased level of counselling services, a stigma continued to be attached to unwanted pregnancies. For many women the only option was to seek a remedy in a British abortion clinic.
Following widespread consultation with parents, teachers and young people, the board said teenage pregnancy continued to pose a problem and, while birth-rates had stabilised in the 1990s, there was little room for complacency.
In 1998, 370 babies were born to mothers in Cork and Kerry aged 19 or younger, and 97 per cent of these births were outside marriage. In the SHB area between four and six babies were born every year to a mother under 15 years of age and over 4 per cent of the births were to 16- to 19- year-olds.
The board also pinpointed a huge increase in the attendance figures at the Cork STD clinic between 1990 and last year and said efforts must be redoubled to support the development of healthy, personal and sexual relationships through education and support services.
In 1990, a total of 909 people attended the Cork STD clinic and last year that figure rose to 5,068.
The board said that in sexually transmitted bacterial infections, the incidents of gonorrhoea and chlamydia had increased rapidly in recent years, returning to the high levels of the mid-1980s.
With almost 70 cases of chlamydia reported last year to the Cork STD clinic, this disease represented the fastest-growing bacterial infection transmitted through sexual contact.
The draft sexual health strategy will be presented to Southern Health Board members on Monday next after which full funding will be sought from the Department of Health.