Three Galway women travel to UK for abortion every week

At least three Galway women travel to the UK for an abortion every week – according to official figures released by the UK Department of Health.

The data, released under Freedom of Information show that between the years 2008 and 2011, 726 women with addresses in Galway made the journey to England or Wales for a termination, which works out at an average of just over three women per week.

It’s apparent that even more Galway based women had abortions across the water over these four years as over 2,300 women from Ireland who had a termination in the UK between 2008 and 2012 did not state their address at all.

In total, 17,573 women with Irish addresses had an abortion in the UK between 2008 and 2011. Unsurprisingly, as it is the most populated county, the largest numbers of Irish women travelling for abortions were from Dublin – nearly 6000 in total.

The least amount of women travelled from the smaller counties like Roscommon, Leitrim, Westmeath and Offaly.

The statistics also show that the reason given by 98% of Galway women for their abortion was to prevent 'injury to the physical or mental health' of the mother.

See full story in this week's Connacht Tribune