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”.
