An Irish survey that questioned GPs’ attitudes to abortion has found that the majority believe abortion should be available to any woman who chooses it. Some 52 per cent of GPs hold this belief, while the research also revealed that 48 per cent of the respondents had a consultation in the previous six months with a woman either before or after she had travelled abroad for a termination.
Carried out in 2011 and presented at a research conference in Sligo last month, the study involved 500 practicing GPs and just under 250 GPs in training. The research was based on a postal/email survey of randomly chosen family doctors and was carried out by GP trainee Dr Mark Murphy. It looked at doctors’ own clinical experiences of termination and also highlighted health problems linked to abortion.
While just over half of the GPs said abortion should be available for any woman who wants it, 11 per cent said abortion should never be available. Another 13 per cent expressed no definite opinion.
Furthermore, 24 per cent of the GPs said it should only be allowed in very limited circumstances, such as with “a real and substantial risk to the life of the mother”. Doctors specified other exceptional circumstances as including rape or sexual abuse, maternal cancer, or major foetal anomalies.
The findings of the study also showed that four in 10 respondents believe a woman’s healthcare suffers due to the need to travel for a termination. Respondents also reported difficulty with aftercare, with one concluding: “Many women do not attend for aftercare with their Irish GP as they are ashamed or embarrassed and often present too late with infection/bleeding.”
The research also highlighted the psychological trauma involved. One doctor said, “illegality and having to travel abroad add to the traumatic effect of what is already a complex situation and a decision not taken light-heartedly by many women.”
Commenting on the study, Dr Murphy said he hoped it would highlight circumstances in which women who choose to travel abroad to undergo a termination may suffer adverse health consequences.
Dr Murphy said the terms “pro-life” and “pro-choice” do not accurately describe the spectrum of views of the majority of GPs surveyed. “A maximum of 11 per cent of GPs surveyed agree with our current legislation regarding abortion. At a very minimum, 75 per cent of GPs feel there are situations in which abortion should be available in Ireland,” he said.
Figures from the Irish Family Planning Association (IFPA) show that between January 1980 and December 2010, at least 147,912 women travelled from the Republic of Ireland for safe and legal abortion services abroad.
The UK Department of Health releases statistics each year on the number of women and girls who gave Republic of Ireland addresses at abortion clinics in England and Wales. According to the IFPA, it is “important to note that these numbers are an underestimation, as not all women resident in the Republic of Ireland will provide their Irish address for reasons of confidentiality.
“Furthermore, some Irish women will give addresses in the UK at which they are not resident in order to obtain abortion care paid for by the NHS.” Between 1980-2009, at least 146,442 women living in Ireland have travelled to England and Wales to access safe abortion services.
An increasing number of women are accessing legal abortion services in EU countries other than England and Wales. According to statistics compiled by the Crisis Pregnancy Programme, 1,470 women travelled from the Republic to the Netherlands from 2005-2009 to access safe abortion services.
Public opinion
In the last decade there has been a significant shift in public attitudes towards abortion, with opinion polls and research consistently showing increased support for access to abortion within Ireland.
A 2004 Crisis Pregnancy Agency study found that 90 per cent of 18-45 year olds support abortion in certain circumstances, with 51 per cent stating that women should always have the right to choose an abortion. In 2007, an Irish Times Behaviour and Attitudes Poll found that 54 per cent of women believe the Government should act to permit abortion. Two studies on the issue were conducted in 2010: The first, an Irish Examiner/Red C Poll, found that 60 per cent of people surveyed supported legal abortion and three in five people aged 18-35 believed abortion should be legalised.
Also in 2010, a Marie Stopes/YouGov opinion poll indicated that 79 per cent of those questioned were in favour of liberalisation of Irish abortion laws in certain circumstances.
“Referenda in 1992 and in 2002 rejected proposals to further restrict access to abortion. No referendum has ever been held to offer Irish people the opportunity to make access to abortion less restrictive; opinion polls, however, consistently indicate public support for less restrictive abortion regulation,” the IFPA say in a statement.
“For example, despite much media and political attention on the abortion issue during the Lisbon Treaty debate in Ireland, independent research from the EU indicated that only two per cent of responses cited that Lisbon would allow the introduction of European legislation in Ireland such as gay marriage, abortion and euthanasia as a reason for voting no.”
