PR: 'Ireland's Shame': 6666 babies are killed by abortion in first year 

The Life Institute has described the massive rise in the number of abortions taking place as "horrific" after a new report showed that 6,666 babies had their lives ended by abortion in 2019. 

In the twelve months to December 2019, 6,666 abortions took place in Ireland according to the Department of Health who issued the report today. Previously, some 2,879 women travelled from Ireland to the UK for abortions in 2018, while an unknown number, estimated by some at 1,000 or more also took abortion pills. 

The new report showed that 100 babies were aborted because of a severe or life-limiting condition, and that most abortions - up to 98% - were elective abortions, mostly carried out for social reasons. 

The Life Institute said that the figures were "horrific and heartbreaking", and that they proved when abortion was made legal the number of abortions carried out "always and inexorably rose". 

"We were told in the referendum that a Yes vote wouldn't lead to an increase in the number of abortions, but that claim, like so many others, has been shown to be a lie," the pro-life group said. "Simon Harris and Leo Varadkar assured us that abortion would be "legal and rare": how can anyone call 6,666 abortions rare?"

"How can anyone want more abortions to take place? It's a shocking indictment of the failure of this abortion regime," spokeswoman Niamh Uí Bhriain said.

Life Institute said that the Yes campaign and the media had repeatedly claimed that abortion was required to protect women's lives or for very rare hard cases, but the figures released today showed that most abortions were for social reasons. 

"Behind that number are 6,666 lives - babies who were unique and irreplacable but whose lives were ended and discarded, and 6,666 women who were failed by this government who offered them no other choice than abortion," Ms Uí Bhriain said. "This figure should be Ireland's shame - 6,666 lives ended by Repeal. We have lost our sense of compassion, and people need to open their eyes to the reality of what the abortion referendum has meant: more and more abortions, and a failure to love and support women."