Abortions are not rare, nor should they be
The fact that people who need it — and every person who wants an abortion needs an abortion — can access safe abortion care is good because healthcare is a human right.
8,156 people had an abortion in Ireland in 2022, according to figures released by the Department of Health at the end of June. This is an increase on the 6,700 abortions carried out in 2021. Although last year’s report came with a supplementary note explaining that the cyber attack on the HSE in May 2021 may have affected the number of abortions healthcare providers reported to the Department of Health. As in previous years, people in every county accessed abortion care.
The legally mandated annual reports on Notifications in Accordance with the Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act 2018 show what abortion advocates, pro-choice campaigners, and abortion providers have been saying for decades; abortions are not rare. They are a necessary part of many people’s reproductive healthcare.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar recently said he would like fewer abortions in Ireland. This follows his comments in April, after the publication of the Independent Review of the Operation of the Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act 2018 when he said he would be “reluctant and uncomfortable” to implement the changes recommended in the report. Varadkar reiterated that when he canvassed for the repeal of the Eighth Amendment during the referendum campaign, he did so on the basis that “we would have a situation in Ireland where abortion was safe, legal and rare.”
Safe, legal, and rare may have been the goal of Fine Gael’s referendum campaign, but it was not the goal of Together for Yes or the pro-choice activists who spent decades campaigning for a referendum to be called in the first place. The Abortion Rights Campaign, which co-directed Together for Yes with the Coalition to Repeal the Eighth Amendment, and the National Women’s Council, called Varadkar on his insistence that abortions be rare in early 2018, explaining that “there is no perfect number of abortions, just like there is no perfect number of any other medical procedure. What we need is access to abortion for everyone who wants or needs one without judgement or shame.”
Abortions were not rare before 2018; they happened abroad because we forced pregnant people to leave the country at a rate of up to 12 a day to have an abortion. Many more people ordered abortion pills online, at a rate of up to 3 a day, and had safe but illegal at the time abortions at home. In a post-Repeal landscape, the vast majority of pregnant people who need an abortion can access abortion care in Ireland. Yet, Ireland still forces hundreds of people to travel abroad for care when our abortion law fails them. In 2023 abortions are not rare, nor should they be.
In discussing his views on implementing the recommendations of the independent report on our abortion law, Varadkar said, “I don’t think anyone thinks that abortion is a good thing. It’s sometimes necessary but it’s not a good thing.” I am here to say that I think abortion is a good thing. Abortion is basic and necessary healthcare. Not “sometimes”, but whenever someone decides to have an abortion. Regardless of their reason. If someone does not want to be pregnant, it is a good thing that they can access safe abortion care.
I would not have said this a decade ago. I’ve been open about changing my views on abortion. I went from being anti-abortion to becoming a founding member of Kerry for Choice to giving a speech at last year’s March for Choice where I called for “abortions on demand, without apology and free from shame and stigma. NOW!”
None of this happened overnight. As my views changed, I believed that there were circumstances where abortion was sometimes necessary, but I didn’t want abortions on demand to become the norm in Ireland. Safe, legal, and rare seemed possible and preferable to me.
This shift in my thinking brought me into spaces — at protests, meetings, and actions — full of pro-choice people willing to discuss why they support abortion rights. It was these conversations that helped me realise that abortion restrictions do not work because laws based on accessing abortion only in certain circumstances cannot possibly account for every eventuality and deciding when a pregnant person’s life or health is at-risk enough to qualify for an abortion is not as clear cut as lawmaker’s think. Women and pregnant people in Ireland and globally have died and will continue to die while doctors differ in interpreting these laws.
I questioned why I was okay supporting abortion in certain circumstances and not others, which is what safe, legal, and rare means. Who was I to decide whether someone’s abortion was necessary? How would I even go about making that decision if I could? As I unpicked my assumptions, beliefs, and unease about abortion, I concluded that I, or anyone, could only make those decisions by judging people who seek abortions because judgement is at the heart of safe, legal, and rare. It says that abortion is okay as long as we — politicians, medical professionals, and society — deem a pregnant person’s circumstances for needing one worthy. More often than not, this search for worthiness devolves into judgement about how the person in question got pregnant.
People have abortions for various reasons. None of which are mine or anyone else’s business. Everyone’s reason for having an abortion is right for them when they decide. The fact that people who need it — and every person who wants an abortion needs an abortion — can access safe abortion care is good because healthcare is a human right.
But What Can I Do?
In Great Britain, email your MP calling for the decriminalisation of abortion using the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) e-action tool — Time to Act: Email your MP.
In Northern Ireland, North Coast for Choice has launched a survey for people living in the North Coast Area affected by the weekly anti-choice harassment outside the Causeway Hospital — Causeway hospital anti-choice protesters.
In Northern Ireland, report any anti-choice harassment you witness to Alliance for Choice. They also share tips on what to do if you see or are subject to, anti-choice abuse — Anti-Watch.
Donate to abortion funds
In Europe, donate to Supporting Abortions for Everyone (SAFE), Abortion Support Network, Aborcyjny Dream Team, Abortion Network Amsterdam, and Abortion Without Borders.
In the US, the National Network of Abortion Funds lists funds in every state — donating here means your donation supports 90+ organisations.
Share information on how to access abortions
In Ireland, if you are pregnant and do not want to be, or someone you know needs an abortion, the HSE’s MyOptions service will help you find your nearest provider. Freephone 1800 828 010.
The Abortion Rights Campaign has written a blog post about how the legislation works and on what grounds abortion is permissible after the 12-week on-request period has passed — Need an abortion?
In Northern Ireland, Alliance for Choice Belfast and Alliance for Choice Derry have shared information on accessing abortion services in the North.
Alliance for Choice Belfast — I Need An Abortion Now.
Alliance for Choice Derry — Abortion Help.
In Northern Ireland, Lucht Cabhrach Abortion Doulas provide support at home before, during or after your abortion.
Phone 07397 902774 or email abortion@luchtcabhrach.com — What are doulas?
Email allianceforchoicederry@gmail.com to contact Alliance for Choice Derry’s abortion doulas — Our Abortion Doulas.
In the US, ineeda.com provides up-to-date information on how to get an abortion.
Women on Web provide abortion pills in advance — Advance provision of abortion pills.
Everyone Loves a News Round-Up
“It is a pity that such an important reform, intended to safeguard women’s lives and health, had to end up scuttled because of one man’s moral code and another man’s lack of spine. Women deserve better than being sabotaged by two men and their follies.” — Bill 28: One man’s moral code and another man’s lack of spine [Malta Today]
“This human rights crisis we as a country have since been thrust into has ensured that if you are a person capable of pregnancy, your body is a cage. And if you find yourself in the clutches of the carceral system, you get to experience the simultaneous duality of being imprisoned twice.” — Abortion Bans and Pregnancy Surveillance [Scalawag]
“Abortion bans are about coercion, control, and punishment for non-compliance with white, cisgender, hetero-patriarchal norms. I know that pro-abortion (and pro-choice people, if they’re not ready to claim the “pro-abortion” moniker) understand this. But this fixation on somehow ~ proving ~ once and for all and to the worst people and most powerful anti-abortion actors that abortion bans do harm says to me that there’s a political synapse connection either missing or misfiring somewhere between “abortion bans are fucked up” and “we just need to prove that abortion bans are fucked up.” — The Awful Consequences of Abortion Bans Make Republicans Feel Powerful, Not Ashamed [Home With the Armadillo ︱ Substack]
“Our client was forced to undergo a traumatic, dangerous, and completely avoidable emergency surgery to save her life because she was deceived into going to an anti-abortion clinic instead of an appropriate healthcare provider,” Liss-Riordan said. “At every step of the way, she was led to believe she was receiving appropriate medical care when in fact she was subject to a campaign of misinformation and unfair and deceptive practices.” — Woman Sues Anti-Abortion 'Pregnancy Center' After Her Ectopic Pregnancy Ruptured [Jezebel]
‘The proposed laws will mean safe access zones of 100m will apply from an entrance or exit to a premises where services could be provided.
It is understood, however, that the proposed legislation will preserve the right to protest or advocate in favour or against abortion outside of the 100m protected areas.’ — Protesters outside facilities providing abortion services could face fines of €2.5k [Irish Examiner]
“The three-year ordeal had been exhausting, but Wydrzyńska said she was feeling “power inside.” During her court appearances, in front of the judge, the prosecutors, and the news cameras, Wydrzyńska never denied mailing the abortion pills; rather, her defense was that doing so was not a crime but an act of human rights, of compassion and grace, of one woman reaching out to help another. She was innocent, she said; it was the state that was guilty.” — The Conviction of Justyna Wydrzyńska [The Nation]
“This waiting period, sometimes called a “cooling-off period,” is a practice the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends against, because of the extra barriers—financial and logistical—it places on abortion seekers. It also “completely undermines people’s capacity to choose,” says Fitzsimons—and perpetuates the stereotype that abortions are carried out on impetuous whims, rather than being thought-out health care decisions.” — The Pain and Promise of Europe’s Abortion Laws [Wired]
“BPAS points out that it’s vulnerable women – such as migrants unsure of their rights on the NHS, or women terrified of their abusive partners knowing they’ve ended a pregnancy – who may be more likely to fall foul of the law.” — A mother jailed for procuring her own miscarriage. Is that what we want in 21st-century Britain? [The Guardian]
“I want Greg Abbott or anyone who voted for this law to look me in the eye and tell me that I deserved what happened. That I deserve to be punished by the law for what I’ve gone through. I want them to look me in the eye.” — An American Nightmare: Young, pregnant & living in Texas [Abortion, Every Day︱Substack]
“A Polish hospital should have told a woman who later died that terminating her pregnancy could save her life, an ombudsman said on Monday, amid anger over a case that has thrust the country's strict abortion laws back into the spotlight.” — Polish hospital should have offered abortion to save woman's life, says ombudsman [Reuters]