Urgent appeal to build on the momentum from the defeat of the assisted suicide Bill and make this victory last.
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Record 10,852 abortions in Ireland in 2024, a 62.8% increase since 2019

Abortion statistics released by the Department of Health in Ireland show there were a record 10,852 abortions in Ireland in 2024, a 62.8% increase since 2019, when the abortion legislation introducing abortion on demand in Ireland came into effect, and 6,666 abortions took place.

The figures reveal an increase of 8.16% from 2023, when there were 10,033 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 2022, shows that 201 residents of the Irish Republic travelled to England and Wales for an abortion. In the same year, Irish abortion statistics show that 8,156 abortions took place in Ireland, and of these, 12 were for women who had travelled from Northern Ireland. This takes the total number of abortions for residents of the Irish Republic to 8,345 in 2022. This is an increase of 186.7% from 2,911 in 2018.

The report also shows that of the 10,852 abortions in 2024, 10,711 (98.7%) were not carried out based on risk to health or life of the mother or on the basis of a condition likely to lead to the death of the unborn baby.

The largest number of abortions happened in January 2024 (1,056) and the fewest happened in August 2024 (849).

There have been a total of 48,984 abortions in Ireland from the start of 2019 to the end of 2024, according to data from the Department of Health in Ireland.

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 truly shocking. The number of abortions has continued to rise year-on-year since the law changed in 2019, while successive governments have failed to back measures which would reduce the rising abortion rate. For the second consecutive year, the Government chose to release the figures late on a Friday evening – a clear and deliberate tactic to shield from public scrutiny the deeply troubling abortion framework they have created”.

“There is no sign of any willingness on the part of the Government to sincerely address what’s taking place or to even engage with people who are calling for reasonable measures to be brought forward to try and reduce the spiralling numbers of abortions taking place. This needs to urgently change”.

Spokesperson for Right To Life UK, Catherine Robinson, said “The 10,852 abortions in 2024 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 abortion was made legal”.

“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”.

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.