Figures show rise in Irish getting UK abortions

Just under 1,000 Irish teenagers travelled to Britain for abortions last year, figures released today reveal.

And provisional figures for 2002 show the number is increasing with 257 teenagers receiving terminations in England and Wales between January and March, an increase of 47 on the first quarter of last year.

The overall number of women giving addresses in the State seeking abortions in the UK increased again in 2001 to a new high of 6,673 according to the British Office for National Statistics. The number has climbed steadily since 1999 when 6,000 women travelled to the UK for the procedure.

This upward trend in the number of Irish women having terminations in Britain will continue if provisional figures for the first quarter of the year are maintained. Some 1,689 Irish women had abortions between January and March this year.

Criticism over an "outmoded" approach to sex education has been levelled at the Government by the Irish Family Planning Association following the publication of the new figures.

Its assistant chief executive, Ms Catherine Heaney, said the Government seemed unwilling to acknowledge the fact that young people were having sex more often and earlier.

Forty-one girls aged 15 or under had abortions last year and 944 teenagers travelled to the UK for terminations. The age group with the largest number of abortions was 20-25 years-of-age with 2,404 abortions.

Ms Heaney said a worrying aspect of the figures was the steady rise in the numbers of teenagers travelling for abortions.

Last month, a rise in the number of Irish women travelling to Britain for abortions was predicted after the government there unveiled plans to widen the availability of drug-induced terminations.

Britain's Pro-Life Alliance accused the British government of "cost-cutting" and being "obsessed" with abortion.

The Department of Health in Britain said the move was intended to eliminate the wide variations in waiting times for abortions, which can range from two weeks in some areas to around six to eight weeks elsewhere.