Abortion statistics released by the Department of Health in Ireland show there were 10,600 abortions in Ireland in 2025, a 59.02% increase since legislation introducing abortion on demand came into effect in 2019, when 6,666 abortions took place. This brings the total from 2019 until the end of 2025 to almost 60,000 abortions.
Before new abortion legislation came into effect in Ireland in 2019, the number of abortions that took place in England and Wales for women who were Irish residents in 2018 was 2,879. A further 32 abortions were reported to have taken place in Ireland under the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act, taking the total number of abortions for Irish residents in 2018 to 2,911.
The latest available data, for the year 2023, shows that 235 residents of the Irish Republic travelled to England and Wales for an abortion. In the same year, Irish abortion statistics show that 10,033 abortions took place in Ireland, and of these, 9 were for women who had travelled from Northern Ireland.
The largest number of abortions happened in January 2025 (1,067) and the fewest happened in February 2025 (809).
In May 2018, a referendum on whether to repeal the Eighth Amendment – the amendment to the Irish constitution passed in 1983 that explicitly guaranteed the right to life of the unborn – took place. The “Yes” campaign received 66.40% of the vote, and 33.60% voted “No” to repealing the amendment.
Following the referendum, the Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act entered Irish law on 20 December 2018, and abortion services commenced on 1 January 2019.
Commenting on the figures, Eilís Mulroy of the Irish pro-life group Pro Life Campaign said “The latest figures are deeply concerning. The fact that 10,600 abortions occurred in Ireland in a single year is a very sobering indictment of how Ireland’s abortion regime is operating. It means that 1 in every 6 babies in Ireland now loses their life to abortion”.
“8 years on from the introduction of abortion, incredibly, there is still no State-backed service whose sole purpose is to ensure that women conflicted about having an abortion can access timely information and practical support if they wish to continue their pregnancy. The State-funded agencies responsible for addressing unplanned pregnancy operate as a de facto fast-track service to abortion. Even a cursory review of these agencies’ websites suggests that their structures are overwhelmingly geared towards abortion”.
“We hear from women all the time who regret their abortions and describe feeling rushed, pressured, or carried along by the process, only to be left feeling abandoned and failed by the State afterwards. What’s happening today is abortion on a completely different scale from what senior politicians like Micheál Martin and Simon Harris promised the public would happen if they voted for ‘Repeal’ in 2018. Yet in recent months, the only changes in which these leaders have shown any interest are proposals that would lead to still more abortions, not less – their support for the removal of the three-day reflection period being a case in point”.
Spokesperson for Right To Life UK, Catherine Robinson, said “The 10,600 abortions in 2025 are a tragedy. Every single one of these was a unique human person whose life was ended shortly after it began”.
“The number of abortions has increased dramatically since 2019, when the current abortion law came into force”.
“Less than a decade ago, unborn babies’ lives were protected by law in Ireland. Now, according to the latest data, they are being ended at a rate of over 10,000 per year”.
