(Pro Life Campaign) News (last) week that the HSE (Health Service Executive-Ireland’s public health and social care service) has developed a national system to gather much more comprehensive data on abortions taking place has been warmly welcomed by the Pro Life Campaign.
The data collected will include the gestational stage that the abortion happens and any post abortion complications that may arise, impacting the health and lives of women.
In August, The Irish Times reported that a new data collection system was being established but the full details of what it entails were only released this week in response to a parliamentary question from Michael Collins TD.
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In a statement, Eilís Mulroy of the Pro Life Campaign said:
“We warmly welcome the latest news. The Pro Life Campaign has been calling for the past seven years for a more comprehensive and transparent system of data collection with regard to abortion. While we continue to call for a complete overhaul of the factors that have tragically led to over 10,000 abortions each year in Ireland, we are pleased that the importance of having more detailed information is finally being recognised and implemented.
“Until now, the Department of Health has only released crude figures - basic year-on-year totals of the number of abortions carried out. This information gap has impaired researchers and policymakers from getting a clearer and more accurate picture of abortion in Ireland, which is essential for analysing trends including risks and dangers to women’s health and wellbeing.
“Ideally, this new system should have been in operation since the new law took effect in 2019. Several TDs tabled an amendment to the abortion bill in late 2018 that would have achieved just that but the then Government refused to give way on the point. However, it’s better late than never having more oversight for what’s going on.
Take the reported case of the woman in Limerick who almost died following complications from an undetected ectopic pregnancy, two weeks after her medical abortion. It’s just one example that highlights the need for greater transparency and collection of data to identify and track what precisely is taking place under the law and, and in this particular case, whether better ultrasound scanning should be mandated across the country,” Ms Mulroy concluded.
Tweet This: Until now, Ireland's health department has only released crude abortion figures - impairing the clear picture.
The reluctance until now to collect meaningful data on abortions taking place was driven, most likely, by a fear among those in power that greater transparency might erode public support for Ireland’s new abortion regime. The HSE’s change of heart - if nothing else - signals an acknowledgment that keeping such information hidden was no longer tenable.
Among the things that will be included in the new data collection system are: the gestational stage that the abortion takes place; any post-abortion complications; numbers presenting to hospitals following an early medical abortion (EMA) overseen by a GP. The HSE reply made it clear that the new system will not collect any patient-identifiable information.
Editor's note: This article was published by Pro Life Campaign and is reprinted with permission.
