Roughly 6,700 abortions had been carried out right here final yr – however the actual determine is unclear as a result of not sufficient GPs and hospitals are assembly their obligation to report every termination to the Minister for Well being.
he Division mentioned at the moment simply 4,577 terminations had been formally notified.
The approximate determine was launched by the Division of Well being though its third annual report on the Well being (Regulation of Termination of Being pregnant) Act 2018, laid earlier than the Homes of the Oireachtas.
The Division of Well being mentioned it needed to contact the HSE to do a trawl of docs and hospitals as a result of notifications had been clearly too low.
The variety of notified abortions in 2020 was 6,577 and in 2019 got here to six,666.
“The general notifications reported are considerably decrease than noticed within the first two annual experiences. Within the preparation of the 2021 Annual Report, the Division recognized the decrease variety of notifications obtained in comparison with earlier years,” the division mentioned.
“In response, the Division engaged with the HSE to evaluate the extent of confidence in general notification numbers. Figures obtained from the HSE point out that roughly 6,700 termination of being pregnant second session claims for reimbursement had been made below the Main Care Reimbursement Scheme (PCRS).
“Following these engagements, it’s affordable to conclude, based mostly on the knowledge accessible, that the variety of terminations of being pregnant notified to the Minister is considerably decrease than the variety of terminations carried out in 2021.
“The Minister has a statutory obligation to report the figures notified to him. This obligation has been fulfilled. Nevertheless, within the pursuits of openness and transparency, the Minister needs to focus on this matter alongside the publication of the 2021 report.
Well being Minister Stephen Donnelly added: “It’s absolutely acknowledged that 2021 was an enormously difficult yr for our healthcare companies, not least generally apply, together with coping with the unbelievable problem posed by wave three of Covid-19, the rollout of the Covid-19 vaccine as a precedence public well being intervention, the administration of the lasting impacts of Covid-19 and the system-wide impacts ensuing from the cyber assault in Might 2021.
“However this, all medical practitioners who carried out terminations of being pregnant in 2021 are requested to assessment their data and paperwork as a matter of precedence and submit any excellent notifications to me according to the conventional course of.”
The report confirmed that of the 4,577 abortions notified some 4,513 had been early medical terminations as much as 12 weeks.
One other 53 had been instances of deadly foetal abnormality, 9 concerned danger to the well being of the mom and two had been the place the mom’s life was at risk.
A examine from Trinity School earlier this week highlighted the difficulties confronted by some pregnant girls who search a termination for a deadly foetal abnormality however discover they fall outdoors the very strict standards.
November, January and December final yr had been the very best months for abortions, with Might and June the bottom.
Dublin had the very best quantity, at 1,618, and Leitrim the bottom, with 22. Different counties with low numbers included Roscommon, Longford, Laois and Carlow.
