Abortion surged by almost a third in Northern Ireland in twelve months, according to official statistics for 2023/24, the biggest percentage rise in abortion ever seen in the UK.
NI Department of Health statistics show that there were 2,792 abortions in Northern Ireland between 1 April 2023 and 31 March 2024 – up by 28.78 per cent compared with the previous twelve months. The increase is the largest annual rise in abortion by percentage in the UK in the past 50 years.
In 2023/24, most abortions in Northern Ireland were medical abortions (92.9%), not surgical. But there was also a 61.7 per cent increase in abortions of unborn babies over 12 weeks gestation, and there were 198 surgical abortions in 2023/24.
26 unborn babies were aborted in 2023/24 because they were disabled with “physical or mental abnormalities” (Ground E), which include conditions such as Down’s syndrome, cleft lip and club foot. Unborn babies may be aborted up to birth under Ground E.
In the space of three years, 2021/22 to 2023/24, the number of babies aborted under Ground E increased by 56.25 per cent.
During the same period, abortion overall increased by 59.1%, and 77.4% in four years (2020-2021 onwards).
Abortion in Northern Ireland was decriminalised on 22 October 2019, with legislation being passed on 31 March 2020.
Safe Access Zones, otherwise known as “buffer zones”, also came into force around abortion facilities in Northern Ireland on 29 September 2023.
One woman, Claire Brennan, was arrested after she knelt in prayer inside one such buffer zone in County Londonderry. She later said that she wanted to “prick the conscience” of mothers about to have abortions.
In court, Ms Brennan said that her right to pray in public was protected by the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR). “They [the government] have made a law that prohibits my right to worship, to speak the gospel to these women, to speak truth to them that their baby is a precious gift from God”, said Ms Brennan.
Ms Brennan was found guilty and fined £750 for breaching the buffer zone and refusing to leave the public area.
Buffer zones have been imposed around the UK, where abortion is also on the rise. In England and Wales there were over a quarter of a million abortions in 2022, and 16,584 abortions in Scotland in the same time.
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