The good news first. Nearly 20% of Irish women changed their minds about abortion in 2020. That is considerably higher than in 2019.
By Jim Stack – Iona Institute –
According to HSE figures obtained by Carol Nolan TD, while there were 6,455 abortions in Ireland in the first trimester of pregnancy, 8,057 women had an initial consultation with a doctor about having an abortion. This appears to mean just over 1,600 women had a change of heart and decided to proceed with their pregnancies.
For the second year in a row, therefore, we have very strong evidence that the three-day reflection period, in the abortion legislation, is doing its job, allowing women time to consider their options and in 2020, in about one in five cases, a decision in favour of life was taken. In the light of this evidence, it is beyond belief that abortion activists are campaigning for the abolition of the three-day reflection period at this time.
The remarkable thing about this 20pc change-of-mind figure is that it was achieved in an abortion regime that has no provision for pre-abortion counselling built into it. It is left up entirely to the abortion provider to decide how much listening and counselling to provide in each individual case. The following excerpt from “Sarah’s story”, currently featured on the Life Institute website, graphically illustrates just how perfunctory that counselling service can be at times:
“I was surprised how quickly I got an appointment. He (the GP) went through the abortion and it all sounded very straightforward really. There was no offer of help, support, no counselling, no encouragement… just to return in 3 days. The next three days were a blur but you could cut the tension with a knife at home.
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