​​The HSE spent €8.5 million on drug induced abortion in 4 years

24.05.2024

This Saturday 25th May marks the 6th anniversary since Ireland tragically legalised a very liberal abortion regime into this country. Since it came into effect in January 2019 the numbers of abortions have exploded to over 10,000.

Now we have received figures from The Health Service Executive (HSE) that more than €8.5 million of tax payers money was spent in 4 years between 2019 and 2022 on abortion pills. 

These figures do not include surgical abortions but drug induced abortions and close to 28,000 women have availed of such drugs to procure an abortion. 

According to the Irish Mirror the number of HSE assisted drug-induced abortions increased during this period. In 2019 6,017 abortion drugs were availed of. In 2022 this figure rose as high as 8,595 in 2022. There is no date for 2023 or 2024 as of yet. 

Dublin city and county represented the largest uptake in these abortion pills with 45% of the drug used in this region numbering 12,420.

The highest number outside Dublin was Limerick with 1,476. Cork was next with 1,230, and Galway where 1,189 medical abortions occurred.

Wexford had the lowest number of the procedures as under 10 drug induced abortions took place in each of the four years between 2019 and 2022. 

These figures were released on the back of a recent Freedom of Information request. 

The cost of abortion inducing pills for the procedures, mifepristone and misoprostol has shown a rise during this time from around €1.85 million to approximately €2.7 million.

In Spite of such high numbers of drug induced abortions and indeed high numbers of abortion generally the Health Minister Stephen Donnelly is still set to abolish the live saving three day waiting period, which has been proven to save in excess of 4,000 babies.

He has also failed to consider other life saving measures like the abortion pill reversal which has been administered by the likes of Irish man and former Catholic Medical Association President, Dr. Dermot Kearney. The treatment in question is designed to “reverse” the effects of the first of the two drugs that make up the regimen commonly called the “abortion pill.”