(ZENIT News / Dublin, 07.17.2025).- A dramatic rise in abortions across Ireland has reignited debate over the country’s approach to life issues, with new figures from the Department of Health revealing that more than 10,800 abortions were performed in 2024 — the highest number since the procedure was legalized in 2019.
The latest data translates into a sobering statistic: one in every six pregnancies in the Republic of Ireland now ends in abortion. For many, especially those who campaigned against the repeal of the Eighth Amendment in 2018, these numbers feel like a vindication of their warnings — and a betrayal of the public assurances made at the time.
Pro-life leader Eilís Mulroy has been vocal in her reaction, stating that the 2024 figures represent a staggering 280 percent increase from the last full year before legal change, when 2,879 abortions were reported in 2018. She says many politicians who once advocated for legal reform are now privately expressing regret.
“Several TDs and senators who pushed for a ‘yes’ vote in 2018 are shocked by what’s unfolded,” Mulroy said. “They didn’t anticipate this scale, and many are beginning to reconsider what they helped bring about.”
At the heart of the concern is the perception that public messaging around the referendum misrepresented what legal abortion would mean in practice. Pro-life advocates recall being dismissed as alarmists for citing the UK’s high abortion rates, where roughly one in five pregnancies ends prematurely by choice. Today, Ireland appears to be following that same trajectory, and Britain’s own trend line is now approaching one in three.
“This isn’t like fixing hospital wait times,” Mulroy said. “We are talking about ending human lives. This isn’t standard healthcare. And yet, the policy space has shut out pro-life voices completely.”
The calls for reassessment have not fallen entirely on deaf ears. Mulroy remains cautiously optimistic about the current government, which includes support from several independent TDs with pro-life leanings. Her hope is not for immediate legislative reversal, but for modest, concrete steps—beginning with how information is given to women in crisis pregnancies.
“Right now, if a woman calls the government-funded helpline, she gets one referral: the nearest abortion provider,” Mulroy said. “That’s not support. That’s a funnel. At the very least, women should be offered all their options.”
Caroline Quinn, another prominent voice in Ireland’s pro-life movement, laments the lack of public scrutiny. “It’s astonishing how little media coverage this receives,” she said. “We were told abortion would be rare. Eleven thousand a year is not rare. Why aren’t we asking what changed?”
She describes the climate as one of silence, enforced not by law but by culture—a silence that is proving hard to break. But Quinn and others insist they will keep trying.
As Ireland marks more than half a decade since the landmark referendum, the debate is shifting. No longer centered on constitutional amendments or moral arguments, it now turns to a new set of questions: What kind of society is Ireland becoming? Who gets to shape the conversation? And how many lives hang in the balance?
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