Ruadhán Jones
General Practitioners providing abortion services received €2.9 million in fees in 2019, according to figures released by the Health Service Executive (HSE).
The figure was released in response to a query from independent TD Carol Nolan, who described it as “staggering”.
Deputy Nolan said the €2.9 million was taken from the National Women and Infants Health Programme (NWIHP), almost the entirety of its €3.1 million funding for 2019.
“It’s going to take away from other aspects of that program, such as post-natal bereavement counselling,” Mrs Nolan told The Irish Catholic.
Increase
The €2.9 million does not represent the true financial cost of providing abortion in Ireland, she added. It only refers to abortions which took place at nine weeks or under in a community setting.
The figure is likely to be the least abortion is ever going to cost in Ireland, according to Mrs Nolan, as abortion figures typically increase year on year.
Mrs Nolan said the Government must seriously consider the shape of its health budget in light of the challenges Covid-19 poses.
“That is something that has to be revised given where we’re heading and what Covid is going to do to the health budget,” she said. “We have a health service that’s going to struggle over the next while and here we are pumping millions into abortion services.”