Figures suggest 7,000 Irish women will have abortions this year

Provisional figures for Irish women having abortions in Britain in the second quarter of this year are the highest on record, at 1,715.

The total, published yesterday by the UK Office for National Statistics, compares with the 1,696 women giving Irish addresses who had abortions between January and March. The Irish Family Planning Association said the annual figure for 2001 would probably reach 7,000. Annual abortions passed the 5,000 mark for the first time in 1997, and 6,000 in 1999. Last year's total was 6,381.

The Pro-Life Campaign called the latest statistics "disturbing" and said the planned abortion referendum would be an important step in framing social policies to help reduce the trend. The IFPA said the figures showed "regardless of whether or not there is a referendum on the issue, the number of women travelling to the UK for abortions will continue to increase".

The Dublin Well Woman Centre noted the numbers of women under 20 having terminations, up from 210 in the first quarter to 252 in the second. This illustrated the need for young women to be better educated and have improved access to contraception, said its chairwoman, Senator Helen Keogh. A Pro-Life Campaign spokeswoman, Ms Cora Sherlock, blamed the "disastrous" effects of the 1995 Information Act for the 54 per cent increase in abortions since then. But she said the referendum, "coupled with a comprehensive social programme to meet the needs of women in crisis pregnancy, would present a unique opportunity to honestly address the issue".

However, the IFPA chief executive, Mr Tony O'Brien, said that in its attempts to pass legislation with the narrow objective of overturning the Supreme Court ruling in the X case, the Government would simply "bury its head in the sand" rather than confront the reality of Irish abortion.

Dr Maurice Gueret' of the Eastern Regional Health Authority, said "hundreds if not thousands of abortions could be prevented annually if women were allowed easier access to emergency contraception". He called for the "morning-after" pill to be more freely available and suggested the licensing of a "safer and more effective" version of the drug.