Anti-abortion rally in Dublin hears call for taskforce to address ‘soaring’ abortion numbers

The more than 10,000 abortions recorded last year is a “national scandal”, independent TD for Laois-Offaly, Carol Nolan, told the annual Rally for Life in Dublin on Saturday.

Ms Nolan was referring to figures recently released by the Department of Health which showed the number of abortions in 2023 (10,033) was significantly up on the number in 2022 (8,156)

She said the increase was “a national scandal, an absolute scandal”, and called for a taskforce to be established to tackle “these soaring abortion rates”.

The founder of the Life Institute, Niamh Uí Bhriain, told the rally that those who opposed abortion may have lost the 2018 referendum, but their numbers were not low and were growing.

“In March the Government was rocked to its core when its bid to remove the word mother from the Constitution received the largest No vote in the history of the State,” Ms Uí Bhriain said.

“A staggering 74 per cent of people ignored the media, ignored the political establishment, ignored the radically out of touch NGO’s [non-governmental organisations], to reject a referendum that we were told was going to pass easily.”

The rally followed a march from Parnell Square down O’Connell Street with people carrying anti-abortion banners, religious banners and banners for Aontú and the National Party. There marchers were of all ages and included a number of people carrying Brazilian flags.

When the march, which stretched almost the length of O’Connell Street, was passing the GPO, a small number of protesters – mainly young women – from People Before Profit, the Rosa socialist feminist organisation, and people carrying a banner for Trans and Intersex Pride, shouted counter slogans.

A number of members of the Garda public order unit stood between the marchers on the street and the counter-protesters standing on the meridian, four of whom were wearing black cloaks with their breasts exposed.

The fifth annual report on the Health (Regulation of Termination in Pregnancy) Act 2018, published in June, recorded that of the 10,033 terminations last year, the vast majority were in early pregnancy. There were 21 terminations carried out due to a risk to the life or health of the mother, seven due to risk in an emergency situation, and 129 due to a fatal foetal anomaly.

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