Choice Ireland

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.

Commenting Spokesperson Sinead Ahern said, “At least three women a day are ordering drugs off the internet or from elsewhere in order to terminate pregnancies. What the figures cannot tell us is how many women managed to obtain the drugs and to terminate pregnancies without medical supervision or perhaps even proper counselling. We do not know how many women received fake drugs that might pose significant risks to their health.

Further commenting, Ahern added “These seizures demonstrate that the issue of abortion has not gone away in Ireland. We are no longer just exporting the problem.

"It is time to face up to the reality that Irish women will go to desperate lengths and take huge risks to end pregnancies they feel they cannot continue. It is time to stop turning our backs on these women."

Concluding, Ahern commented “The large number of women who still travel to access abortion services or try to access backstreet abortion services is further evidence of the need to make emergency contraception available over the counter."