THE number of older Irish women having abortions in Britain has risen for the third year in a row.
A
total of 836 women from the Republic aged 35 or over had abortions last
year, up from 781 in this age group in 2009 and 720 in 2008.
The rise is in contrast to the overall rate of Irish women travelling to Britain for abortions, which has fallen for the last nine years.
But
experts said that while women they had counselled were concerned about
worsening finances, no studies had yet linked the rise in abortion in
older women to the deepening recession.
Last year, 565 Irishwomen
who had abortions in Britain were in their mid-to-late thirties, while
271 were aged over 40, according to figures from the UK Department of Health.
Overall,
4,402 Irish women -- 12 a day -- had abortions in the UK in 2010, down
marginally from 4,422 in 2009.
The figure has fallen for nine
successive years, down from a high of 6,673 in 2001.
Women in
their twenties were the age group with the highest number of UK
abortions (2,318), while there were 459 abortions among girls under 20
years, down from 511 in 2009.
Teenagers
However, the number of abortions among teenagers under 16 rose to 41, compared to 38 the previous year and 28 in 2008.
Dr
Stephanie O'Keeffe, acting director of the Crisis Pregnancy Agency
said: "Since 2001, the rate of abortion has fallen, particularly among
teenagers and women in their 20s."
Asked about the abortion trend
among older women, she said it was 2.7 per 1,000 women in 2001. This
fell to 2.3 last year but has climbed back to 2.5.
"When you ask
this age group why it was a crisis pregnancy, you are more likely to be
told that their family is complete. There may be relationship
difficulties and that it was not planned," said Dr O'Keeffe.
The
Pro-Life campaign described the overall figures as encouraging and
claimed that "legalised abortion ignores the humanity and rights of the
unborn child as well as the latest medical research, highlighting the
long-term negative effects of abortion on women".