TWO WOMEN every week are travelling from Wexford to the U.K. for an abortion, The Echo has learnt.
Over 340 Wexford women travelled to the U.K. for an abortion between 2008 and 2011.
In 2009 97 women travelled from Wexford to the UK for an abortion, with Liverpool being the most popular destination for the procedure.
The U.K. Department of Health confirmed to this newspaper that 68 women who had abortions in the U.K. in 2008 gave their home address as Wexford. 4,600 women from the country travelled that year for abortions.
1,390 did not give a record of the county they hailed from, suggesting the figure for Wexford is below the actual number.
In 2009 97 women travelled from the county to the U.K. for terminations, while 94 travelled in 2010 and 89 were recorded in 2011, the last year for which figures are presently available.
According to figures supplied by the Department of Health the majority of these are single women who are over 25, but some are teenagers as young as 16.
In 2011, 69 per cent of abortions on Wexford women were carried out in the first nine weeks of pregnancy. 78 per cent of the women were single and 22 per cent were married, divorced, widowed or separated. 69 per cent of the procedures involved Wexford women aged 25 or older, while 92 per cent of abortions were carried out via surgical procedure.
The revelation comes following evidence at the Oireachtas Health Committee where medical experts, lawyers and interest groups spoke in relation to the controversial legislating of abortion in certain circumstances, i.e. when the woman is suicidal. Wexford Fianna Fáil Senator Jim Walsh was one of the key pro life speakers at the event.
The average cost of an abortion in the U.K. is €600. A legal abortion must be certified by two medical practitioners and justified on one or more specified grounds.
According to the U.K. Department of Health, the majority of Wexford women seek an abortion on the grounds that “the pregnancy has not exceeded its twenty fourth week and that the continuance of the pregnancy would involve risk, greater than if the pregnancy were terminated, to the physical or mental health of the individual woman”.
It is not known is suicidal ideation was a reason given for the women to have an abortion.
Irish Family Planning Chief Executive Niall Behan told this newspaper that women travel to the UK for abortions from a whole range of diverse backgrounds.
“In Wexford just under 100 travel per year. They are women of all ages and they tend not to be teenagers. There is a perception that they are teenagers but they tend to be women over 25 whose families are complete in their minds or else they are not ready to start a family. For one reason or another they decide to have an abortion.”
Mr. Behan said the women come to this decision largely by themselves and not due to family pressure.
“There can be relationship, financial and health issues behind these decisions too,” he added.
“For one reason or another, women just don’t think they can look after the child or take on another child at this point.”
Mr. Behan said the number of women travelling from Wexford and across Ireland has begun to fall because of better sexual health education in schools and more use of contraception.
