Exposing the Numbers

At a Glance

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Billboard Campaigns

What's this about?

A yearly billboard campaign which exposes the number of abortions carried out in the previous calendar year. Accompanied by a social media, leaflet and media campaign, it higlights and exposes the lie that abortion, once legalised, is "rare".

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38,132 babies aborted from Jan 2019 - Dec 2023

There were 6,666 abortions in 2019, the first year it was legalised in Ireland - then another 6,577 precious lives ended in 2020. A further 6,700 babies were aborted in 2021. Then a 22% jump was recorded in 2022: a heart-breaking 8,156 babies killed by abortion in that year. And now we know that more than 10,000 abortions took place in 2023.

NUMBER OF ABORTIONS PER YEAR

2019 6,666
2020 6,577
2021 6,700
2022 8,156
2023 10,033
TOTAL 38,132

At the Rally for Life (July 2024) was estimated that an additional 5,000 abortions had taken place in the first 6 months of 2024

Links to Official figures

Official government abortion figures

Published June 2020 - The report covers the period from 1st January 2019 until 31st December 2019.

Published June 2021 - The report covers the period from 1 January 2020 until 31 December 2020.

Published June 2022 - The report covers the period from 1 January 2021 until 31 December 2021.

Published June 2023 - The report covers the period from 1 January 2022 until 31 December 2022.

Published June 2024 - The report covers the period from 1 January 2023 until 31 December 2023

2019-2022 | 28,099 aborted

2023 | Summer Billboard Campaign

At the time of our summer billboard campaign in 2023, data released to Carol Nolan TD had shown that an estimate of 5,000 abortions for the first six months of 2023 was possible based on payments to GPs for abortion provision. Therefore the billboards reflect the number at that time: 33,000 abortions - more than the population of Navan.

2019-2021 | 21,000 aborted

With every year, the shocking and heart-breaking death toll from legalised abortion in Ireland rises. Abortion rates rocketed after repeal of the pro-life amendment in 2018. According to the Department of Health, in just over three years, 21,000 abortions took place. That’s more than the population of Sligo. That’s the equivalent of 840 classrooms of children who were never born – or 78 average-sized primary schools, completely wiped out.

Life Institute’s 2022 billboard campaign, with additional social media and media advertising, brought this stark reality to public attention.

I’m just appalled at that 21,000. It’s unbelievable. I’m so sorry I voted Yes as I never thought we’d be looking at these numbers.

Helen, Dublin

It asks the question: “why are we aborting our future?”. The appalling abortion rate shocks even many of those who voted Yes because they were told abortion would be ‘rare’.

By shining a light on this cruel reality we will awaken the conscience of the people who will come to the realisation that killing cannot be forever dressed up as compassion, and that they were lied to when they were told abortion would be ‘rare

Read more here

2019-2020 | 13,243 aborted

A nationwide pro-life billboard campaign has been launched urging TDs and the public to Rethink Abortion as the legislation is subjected to the first review since 2018. A coordinated campaign is being rolled out by Life Institute and Iona Institute over the coming weeks.

"We're bringing public attention to the disturbing rise in the number of abortions - 13,243 in just two years, despite assurances from Leo Varadkar that it would be 'rare'", the Life Institute said, while the billboard from the Iona Institute says that 'the 8th saved lives'.

The billboard are central to a campaign urging both TDs and the public to examine the surge in abortion and the other negative outcomes that have accompanied the new regime.

Pro-life groups say the review of the 2018 legislation is in danger of being a "whitewash designed to ignore the reality of abortion which would be disturbing to many - including many Yes voters."

The billboards will run in Dublin, Cork, Galway and elsewhere in the country for the first two weeks of October, and others are being planned over the coming months.

A social media messaging and leaflet drop across the country by the Life Institute will also urge people to #RethinkAbortion in light of some of the grim outcomes of the abortion regime - many of which belied the promises made during the referendum by those urging a Yes vote.

In 2019 and 2020 alone, 13,243 abortions were performed, despite assurances by then Taoiseach Leo Varadkar during the campaign to repeal the 8th that abortions would be "rare".

6,666 abortions took place in Ireland in 2019 - more than double the number of abortions which had been carried out on 2,879 women who travelled to Britain for the procedure in 2018. An unknown number of women, estimated by some at 1,000 or more, also took abortion pills in 2018. Prior to the repeal of the 8th, the number of women travelling for abortions to Britain had fallen by 50pc.

"Making abortion legal has certainly made it much more frequent," Niamh Uí Bhriain of the Life Institute said. "Despite the lockdown in 2020, another 6,577 abortions took place, adding up to a grim total of 13,243 in just two years. Yet the government has given no indication that they would like to act to reduce this number or offer better options to women. Instead, we have abortion campaigners demanding changes which would further increase the number of babies aborted, such as scrapping the three-day reflection period."