Urgent appeal to build on the momentum from the defeat of the assisted suicide Bill and make this victory last.
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Ireland: Only 1 in 10 GPs are providing abortions

Newly released data has revealed that only 12% of GPs in the Republic of Ireland are providing abortions.

While abortion can be legally performed in a GP surgery in Ireland up until the ninth week of pregnancy, only 405 out of 3,500 GPs actually provide abortions.

The Freedom of Information request released by Newstalk also found that only 10 out of 19 maternity units in Ireland carry out abortions.

According to Newstalk, the Health Service Executive (HSE) in Ireland “is working to increase the availability of abortion services in hospitals”.

Abortion activist Orla O’Connor said: “We believe in the National Women’s Council that all 19 should be offering a full suite of reproductive healthcare services…”

In 2019 however, Dr Trevor Hayes at St Luke’s Hospital in Kilkenny said that they had decided unanimously not to perform abortions at the hospital. He warned that trying to force doctors to perform abortions against their will would force them out of the profession entirely.

“If this means that doctors and nurses and other medical professionals are being forced out of medicine, this will only add to the staffing crisis already crippling the health service”, said Dr Hayes.

Right To Life UK spokesperson, Catherine Robinson, said: “That the vast majority of GPs do not provide abortions is a strong indication that Irish GPs continue to recognise that in every interaction with a pregnant woman, they have two patients: the mother and her child. Abortion does not treat either patient. It harms one and ends the life of the other”.

“It is important that these GPs and hospitals that do not provide abortion hold firm. The law does not require them to perform abortions and if it did, many would rightly leave the profession”.

Urgent appeal 
to save liveS

Help stop three major anti-life threats.

Help build on the momentum from the defeat of the assisted suicide Bill and make this victory last.

Dear reader,

Thanks to the hard work and dedication of people like you across the UK, after a two-year battle, MPs voted by 286 to 270 to reject the Edwards assisted suicide Bill.

This followed the defeat of the McArthur assisted suicide Bill in Scotland by 69 to 57 in March this year.

Many commentators thought both Bills would become law.

If that had happened, this would have led to the deaths of many thousands of vulnerable people over the coming decades.

Because supporters like you acted, those Bills were stopped.

Because of you, many vulnerable lives have been saved.

A prominent pollster described the campaign against these major attempts to introduce assisted suicide, which brought together people from all walks of life across the UK, as one of the “most successful 21st Century UK social issue campaigns”. You helped make that possible.

WHY WE MUST NOT STOP HERE

What we have achieved together is extraordinary. But we must not rest on our laurels.

Dignity in Dying, a multi-million-pound pressure group, has made clear that it will keep campaigning to legalise assisted suicide. 

We cannot wait until another Bill is brought forward. We need to keep pressing for better care and strengthen the case against legalisation now.

WHAT COMES NEXT

The next phase of our Support Not Suicide campaign will operate across Parliament, media, online and in grassroots communities in every constituency across the United Kingdom.

Our focus now is to build on that momentum from the defeat of these assisted suicide Bills and make these victories last.

We want to build a United Kingdom where assisted suicide is seen as unnecessary – and where legalising it is seen as unthinkable.

The first part of that work is a sustained push for universal access to high-quality palliative, hospice and social care. No one should feel driven towards assisted suicide because they cannot get the care and support they need. 

We have already asked supporters to contact their MPs about improving care. With your help, we will keep that pressure on in every constituency, brief MPs and Peers on gaps in care, and make the case for better provision in the media.

The second part is building on these wins to ensure more MPs and more of the wider public understand the dangers of legalising assisted suicide. We will put evidence of those risks before MPs and Peers. We will work with mainstream journalists to bring the voices of people directly affected, doctors and other experts into the national conversation, and produce clear videos and articles that supporters can share online and in their communities.

Our network of 250,000 supporters covers every constituency in the UK. Thanks to people like you sharing our content, our posts and videos have been viewed more than 100 million times online in the last year. 

We want to utilise that massive reach for this next phase of the campaign.

WE CAN ONLY DO THIS WITH YOUR HELP

The two-year fight to stop these Bills drew heavily on our limited resources.

To replenish those resources and fund the next phase of the Support Not Suicide campaign, we aim to raise at least £199,250 by midnight this Sunday (4 October 2026).

We are, therefore, appealing to you to please give as generously as you can today.

Every donation, large or small, will make a crucial difference in protecting vulnerable lives. Plus, if you are a UK taxpayer, £1 becomes £1.25 with Gift Aid at no extra cost to you.

Will you donate now to help make these victories last and protect vulnerable lives?

Urgent appeal 
to save liveS

Help stop three major anti-life threats.

Help build on the momentum from the defeat of the assisted suicide Bill and make this victory last.