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Over 3,000 women and girls travelled from Ireland to England and Wales for abortions last year

Irish women and girls accounted for over six in 10 (64.3%) of the non-resident abortions carried out in England and Wales last year.

SOME 3,091 WOMEN and girls travelled from Ireland to England and Wales for abortions in 2017, according to new figures released by the UK Department of Health.

This means Irish women and girls accounted for over six in 10 (64.3%) of the non-resident abortions carried out in England and Wales last year. The figure also represents a further decrease in the number of women giving Irish addresses at abortion clinics in England and Wales.

The number of women and girls giving Irish addresses in England and Wales at abortion clinics has decreased from 3,265 in 2016 to 3,091 in 2017.

The figures, released today by the UK Department of Health, also shows that another 919 women and girls gave addresses from Northern Ireland last year.

Abortion1 UK Department of Health UK Department of Health

The vast majority of the women and girls who gave addresses from the Republic of Ireland lived in Dublin – 1,184.

Looking further back, a total of 3,451 women and girls gave Irish addresses at English and Welsh abortion clinics in 2015, a total of 3,735 in 2014 and a total of 3,679 in 2013.

Department of Health UK Department of Health UK Department of Health

The statistics follow Ireland’s Eighth Amendment referendum two weeks ago, in which Irish citizens voted by 66.4% to 33.6% to remove the Eighth Amendment from the Constitution, paving the way for the legislation of abortion in some circumstances.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar told the Dáil last week that he expects abortion legislation to be enacted in Ireland by January 2019.

He said that he didn’t think it realistic that legislation would be enacted prior to the start of 2019, but that a first vote on the pending legislation should happen before the Dail’s summer break.

Abortion pills

The HSE Sexual Health and Crisis Pregnancy Programme (SHCPP) has also reported that women from Ireland are continuing to contact online providers of abortion pills in large numbers.

One online provider, Women on Web, reported that 1,217 women from the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland “received the medical abortion pill” from their service in 2017.

“If a woman takes an abortion pill and has prolonged heavy bleeding, bad pain, faints, or experiences other complications, we strongly encourage her to attend an emergency department or GP straight away,” Helen Deely, programme led for the HSE Sexual Health and Crisis Pregnancy Programme said.

If a woman is in any way concerned about her health following taking an abortion pill or travelling abroad for an abortion, we encourage her to attend a post-abortion medical check-up funded by the HSE.

These services are free of charge and the full list of services is available on www.abortionaftercare.ie.

“Anyone experiencing a crisis pregnancy should be aware of the support available to them free of charge. There are HSE funded crisis pregnancy and post-abortion counselling services in over 30 locations nationwide,” Deely said.

“Crisis pregnancy counsellors provide ongoing support and information to women and their partners.”

A list of crisis pregnancy services is also available on www.positiveoptions.ie.

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    Mute Modern Irish Dad
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    Jul 24th 2020, 7:49 AM

    Fair play to the feds it’s a difficult job but somebody needs to do something in Portland this has been going on for over 50 days. Its a federal court and it’s their jurisdiction. The mayor appears not to be the smartest man in the world.

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    Mute Carryyourowncanou
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    Jul 24th 2020, 8:08 AM

    @Modern Irish Dad: It is horrendous what the feds are doing to peaceful protesting, they are the ones causing the anarchy.

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    Mute Pius Flynn
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    Jul 24th 2020, 8:11 AM

    @Modern Irish Dad: nor do you.
    Power to the people.

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    Mute Modern Irish Dad
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    Jul 24th 2020, 8:30 AM

    @Carryyourowncanou: Your having a laugh if you think it’s peaceful protesting.

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    Mute Modern Irish Dad
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    Jul 24th 2020, 8:32 AM

    @Pius Flynn: What a great comment

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    Mute TL55
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    Jul 24th 2020, 8:43 AM

    @Carryyourowncanou: Peaceful? Lighting fires at a demonstration doesn’t seem peaceful to me.

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    Mute Gareth Murran
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    Jul 24th 2020, 8:44 AM

    @Modern Irish Dad: what planet are you on? This is outrageous. In any other democracy the PM would have stood down. These are dangerous times for the US.

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    Mute Carryyourowncanou
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    Jul 24th 2020, 9:03 AM

    @Modern Irish Dad: many people don’t have the mental stability to be ignored, neglected and physically abused by the police / feds for doing nothing. People are bound to respond, it’s human nature.

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    Mute Modern Irish Dad
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    Jul 24th 2020, 9:18 AM

    @Gareth Murran: The absence of an effective government is a very very dangerous thing. Again this is not a peaceful protest and that is a federal court. Riots for 50+ plus days. I don’t stand by all the actions taken.

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    Mute O Hiongardail Collie
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    Jul 24th 2020, 9:38 AM

    @Carryyourowncanou: no one side to blame here. Both are poking the bee hive

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    Mute Francis Mc Carthy
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    Jul 24th 2020, 9:48 AM

    @Modern Irish Dad: could you please provide us with a credible source which will prove that there has been ” riots for 50 days in Portland” ? Cheers.

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    Mute Canyon
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    Jul 24th 2020, 9:51 AM

    @Carryyourowncanou: you do know the Feds weren’t there when this started..

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    Mute Carryyourowncanou
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    Jul 24th 2020, 9:56 AM

    @Canyon: that’s why I said police / feds.

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    Mute Modern Irish Dad
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    Jul 24th 2020, 9:59 AM

    @Francis Mc Carthy: https://youtu.be/Mtw6mx4pBfM unlawful assembly a month ago. Two days ago https://youtu.be/k_dZnhzKTlA

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    Mute Francis Mc Carthy
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    Jul 24th 2020, 10:02 AM

    @Modern Irish Dad: you mentioned riots for 50 days, yes? Credible source for that claim of yours ?

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    Mute Modern Irish Dad
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    Jul 24th 2020, 10:03 AM

    @Francis Mc Carthy: and should you need a refresher https://youtu.be/kx6AqKu9QJs of what else has happened

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    Mute Francis Mc Carthy
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    Jul 24th 2020, 10:08 AM
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    Mute Modern Irish Dad
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    Jul 24th 2020, 10:10 AM

    @Francis Mc Carthy: it’s a federal court house and those business have lost a lot of money because of riots.

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    Mute Michael Burke
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    Jul 24th 2020, 10:41 AM

    @Modern Irish Dad: troll, troll, troll. There are so many aspects to this that you convenieniently overlook.

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    Mute Shamey
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    Jul 24th 2020, 11:20 PM

    @Modern Irish Dad: not reading your comments, just gonna say you have the stoopidest nom de plume I’ve seen on here…….ever….

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    Mute Modern Irish Dad
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    Jul 25th 2020, 10:01 AM

    @Shamey: Thanks for that comment, do you feel better about yourself for having said that?

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    Mute Shamey
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    Jul 25th 2020, 4:45 PM

    @Modern Irish Dad: sorry, it doesn’t make me feel better… but, and pardon the pun, blowing your own trumpet with that nom de plume is most Trump like.

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    Mute Modern Irish Dad
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    Jul 26th 2020, 11:21 PM

    @Shamey: Well thanks for taking the time to tell me that. I hope your ok now that you have let some of your anger out on a person on the internet. Stay safe

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    Mute Carryyourowncanou
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    Jul 24th 2020, 7:39 AM

    Well done to all protesters

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    Mute Daniela Monza
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    Jul 24th 2020, 8:38 AM

    Tear gassing an elected representative says all about Trump’s idea of democracy. Who is leading the federal officers should know that it’s way beyond limits. The mayor is the authority in the city he’s been elected to lead. Trump is trying to become a dictator as much as his Russian, Turkish and North Korean peers, hopefully Americans will stop him before it’s too late.

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    Mute David Clements
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    Jul 24th 2020, 9:56 AM

    @Daniela Monza: once his own entourage tear gassed a priest, it was game over for America

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    Mute Craic_a_tower
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    Jul 24th 2020, 10:44 AM

    @David Clements: to stand in front of said priest’s church for a photo op

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    Mute Mick Curran
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    Jul 24th 2020, 8:05 AM

    This action by Trump is further fermenting division within American society and its main purpose is to deflect attention from the fallout that his handling of the BLM protests and his reprehensible pandemic response has caused.
    The most benign thing one can say about this president is that he is delusional if not psychotic.

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    Mute Gary Kearney
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    Jul 24th 2020, 8:59 AM

    So much for the land of the free

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    Mute James Walsh
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    Jul 24th 2020, 6:56 PM

    @Gary Kearney: It was always a lie anyway, the freedom in question only applied to property owning white men for most of US history.

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    Mute Liam McLiam
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    Jul 24th 2020, 9:08 AM

    MAGA

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    Mute Teresa O'Halloran
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    Jul 24th 2020, 9:48 AM

    America is in a right mess.

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    Mute Francis Mc Carthy
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    Jul 24th 2020, 9:56 AM

    Doing this to your fellow American citizens is what is going to “Make America Great Again” :/

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    Mute James Walsh
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    Jul 24th 2020, 1:11 PM

    What Trump is doing is essentially no different to what theChinese regime are doing in Hong Kong.

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    Mute Thomas McGrath
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    Jul 24th 2020, 2:11 PM

    Why is this useless gs mayor not arrested for derelection of duty and supporting thugs. He is an example of what the democratic party has become, a communist infiltrated two faced nihilist self absorbed nobodies.

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    Mute Dave O'Keeffe
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    Jul 24th 2020, 6:27 PM

    @Thomas McGrath: a nihilist political party. Interesting concept

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    Mute James Walsh
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    Jul 24th 2020, 8:32 PM

    @Dave O’Keeffe: Poor old Tom just wanted to use big words to make himself feel important, unfortunately for him he understands few if any of them.

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    Mute james s
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    Jul 24th 2020, 6:12 PM

    Why are BLM protesting the feds? As far as I know it’s local police that BLM have a problem with, ie. shooting unarmed black people,all local police are controlled by local governments NOT the federal government. In fact it’s the federal government that was used to help implement civil rights laws in the sixties.

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