[A protest at Dublin Airport Busarus by the Perform Collective for Choice in 2013]
Further to figures released today by the UK Department of Health.
Niall Behan of the Irish Family Planning Association writes:
“At least 3,679 women were forced to travel to the UK last year to access a safe and legal abortion because they are denied these necessary health services in their own country. Every day our clients tell us about their experiences of being abandoned by the Irish health care system and forced to rely on the services of another country.
“Since 1980, over 158,252 women have had to make the journey to the UK to access abortion. These women are not criminals but the law treats them as such because they are seeking a service that is illegal in almost every circumstance in Ireland.
“The criminalisation of abortion does not deter women from seeking an abortion but it does act as a barrier to receiving care. Abortion is the only other area of health where the Government can ignore its duty of care and shift the onus of seeking services onto women.”
(Eamonn Farrell/Photocall Ireland)
