Choice Ireland calls on Government to stop criminalising women who have abortions.

national | rights, freedoms and repression | press release Thursday May 22, 2008 21:11 by Niav - Choice Ireland

Press Release from Choice Ireland.

Following the inquest into the backstreet abortion of a Filipino woman in July 2004, Choice Ireland are tonight calling on the Government to address the issue of abortion rights for women in Ireland. A woman can be jailed for life if she has an abortion in Ireland, but, if she can afford to travel, she can avail of a termination outside the State.

Commenting spokesperson Niav Keating said “In 2004, the government ruled out any review of current abortion legislation despite media coverage of two illegal back-street abortions that had taken place in Dublin that summer. In April 2008, the Council of Europe called on Ireland to decriminalise abortion and warned that Ireland’s abortion ban does not result in fewer abortions but instead means women have no choice but to undergo traumatic backstreet abortions.”

Commenting spokesperson Sinead Ahearn said “It’s time for the government to stop ignoring the plight of women who cannot travel outside this State to procure a termination. It’s time for free, safe and legal abortion services to be introduced in Ireland”

Quotes End.

Notes to Editor

Back street abortions are not a new phenomenon in Ireland and between 1926 and 1974 there were at least 58 recorded prosecutions under the 1861 Offences against the Persons Act. However, since the 1967 Abortion Act in Britain, back street abortion had ceased to be a major problem in Ireland as many Irish women travelled to the UK to terminate a pregnancy. Since 1967, 5 women are known to have died from back street abortions in Northern Ireland.

A report published in the medical journal, The Lancet, last year concluded that there is little difference in abortion rate worldwide regardless of whether the procedure is legal or illegal. The report referred to is “Induced abortion: estimated rates and trends worldwide” by Gilda Sedgh, Stanley Henshaw, Susheela Singh, Elizabeth Ahman and Iqbal H. Shah. It is published in the current issue of ‘The Lancet’ (Volume 370, Number 9595). It can be accessed online www.thelancet.com

For further information and comment:

Sinead Ahearn 086 398 3189
Niav Keating 086 329 3741

Choice Ireland is a diverse group of Pro-Choice activists campaigning for free, safe and legal abortion services in Ireland.