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More Than 9,000 Calls To Unpla...

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More Than 9,000 Calls To Unplanned Pregnancy Helpline

Emma Tyrrell
Emma Tyrrell

05:24 9 Oct 2019


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More than 9,300 calls were made to the HSE's unplanned pregnancy helpline in the first eight months of this year.

They include 244 calls from women who had passed the 12-week limit for an abortion.

When abortion services became legal on January 1st, the HSE set up a support service called My Options. It provides information on continued pregnancy supports and abortion services.

In the first eight months of this year, there were 9,319 calls made to the helpline. While nearly 6,300 people discussed pregnancies of less than 12 weeks, 244 people had passed the legal limit for an abortion.

In Ireland, abortion is permitted up to 12 weeks' gestation, compared to 24 weeks in the UK.

Lyn Brookes from the Abortion Rights Campaign believes the three-month deadline should be scrapped.

"I think that we should be taking each case on its merits and I think that women should be able to go to their doctors and talk through the situation that they're in".

100 children contacted the service in the first eight months of this year, along with 88 women over the age of 45.

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