Choice Ireland

Choice Ireland has today welcomed the decision by the European Court of Human Rights to declare Ireland in violation of Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

The Court unanimously held that the lack of any legislative or regulatory scheme in Ireland by which a woman could establish whether she is entitled to a lifesaving abortion violates Ireland’s obligation to ensure respect for her private life.

Choice Ireland spokesperson Sinéad Ahern has today commented on Daily Mail and TV3 investigations showing the ready online availability of abortion pills.

Ahern said:

"When Choice Ireland's Freedom of Information request to the Irish Medicines Board revealed that at least three women a day were attempting to import abortion pills, we said that this was only the tip of the iceberg. These investigations have proven us correct. They demonstrate that customs are unable to prevent women from obtaining DIY abortions just by going online.

 An investigation by TV3 has revealed how cheap and easy it is to buy illegal abortion pills online.

Choice Ireland have today confirmed that at least 1216 packages containing abortifacient drugs have been seized upon entry into Ireland. The information was obtained by Choice Ireland through a Freedom of Information request to the Irish Medicines Board.

The seizures include Misoprostol, a drug which was widely used in Portugal to induce illegal abortions prior to legalisation of abortion in 2008, and RU486, a drug used to carry out medical abortions in the US and throughout Europe.

Choice Ireland will highlight the government's failure to address the issue of crisis pregnancy with a demonstration outside a Rogue Crisis pregnancy agency located at 50 Upper Dorset Street at 1pm on Saturday July 24th. The recent absorption of the Crisis Pregnancy Agency into the HSE, coupled with repeated failures to regulate agencies providing crisis pregnancy counselling demonstrates an unacceptable failure to tackle the very serious issue of crisis pregnancy.