British Department of Health data debunks pro-abortion maternal health claim

The Committee for Excellence in Maternal Healthcare released new research debunking the pro-abortion claim that Irish women travel to the United Kingdom to get life-saving medical abortions. According to the data, not a single Irish woman had a British abortion to save her life.

The British Department of Health is required by the Section F of the UK Abortion Act to record whether abortions were carried out to “save the life of the mother.” An analysis of the data for the last 20 years demonstrates that not a single abortion was carried out on Irish women under Section F. The same data show that no Irish women received abortions under Section G, documenting abortions performed to “prevent grave permanent injury to the physical or mental health of the pregnant woman.”

When confronted with the evidence that Ireland has one of the lowest maternal mortality rates in the world, abortion activists respond that Irish women travel to Britain to receive life-saving abortions. This evidence proves that response to be entirely baseless.

“This data makes clear what Irish women have known all along – they do not have to leave Ireland to seek abortions if their life is in danger,” said Dr. Eoghan de Foite, a spokesperson for the Committee. “In fact, not one abortion has been carried out to save an Irish woman’s life since the X case, despite the frequent and misleading claims of those who support the provision of induced abortion.”

In September, world-renowned maternal health experts from the Committee released the Dublin Declaration on Maternal Healthcare, which maintains that “abortion is not medically necessary.” The findings from the British Department of Health data vindicate the Dublin Declaration’s statement that “the prohibition of abortion does not affect, in any way, the availability of optimal care to pregnant women.” Medical health experts may sign the Dublin Declaration to affirm their support.

Abortion campaigners used the tragic death of Savita Halappanavar to reinforce their narrative that abortion saves women’s lives. That entire story has been called into question by new facts indicating that she never requested an abortion at all and the medical evidence that abortion would not have saved her life in any case. Despite the truth about the Savita case, abortion activists have shamelessly used her story to push abortion onto the women of Ireland.

The Irish Parliament is expected to determine a course for abortion legislation before their December recess.