The number of abortions that took place in England and Wales reached a new record high of 278,740 in 2023, according to new official figures. This represents an increase of 10.5pc on the year before and means that one pregnancy in every three ends in abortion in England and Wales. When you add in figures for Scotland and Northern Ireland, just under 300,000 abortions took place in the UK in 2023.
Commenting on the figures, Right to Life UK said: “That almost 300,000 lives have been lost to abortion across the UK in just one year is a clear sign that something has gone very wrong in our society. Having children is essential to the future prosperity of our country. Children are to be prized and celebrated, with full support and compassion offered when pregnancies are unplanned”.
The fertility rate for England and Wales has also fallen to 1.41, well below the replacement level of 2.1 children per woman.
A new ‘National Conversation on Education’ has been launched by the Government. It will help form the basis for a ‘Convention on Education’. The deadline for submissions is February 28. The Church of Ireland has urged members to take part.
The ‘conversation’ was launched yesterday by Education Minister, Hildegarde Naughton (pictured). It is being described as “a once-in-a-generation opportunity for children, young people, parents, educators and wider society to help shape Ireland’s education system for decades to come.”
Speaking after the launch, the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin, Michael Jackson, said: “I encourage members of the Church of Ireland to join this conversation and to offer our specific perspectives so that our voices can be included in this great venture.”
He said that the Church of Ireland “has contributed to education in this country for hundreds of years.”
The Catholic Church will also be taking part.
The survey questionnaire can be found here.
There will be a doubling of people aged over 65 in the next 20 years in Ireland, creating a massive strain on society and on palliative care, according to the Hospice Foundation.
The change is due to Ireland’s falling fertility which is well below replacement rate and which the Government appears helpless to reverse.
The “Dying, Death and Bereavement in Ireland” report says Ireland’s over-65 population is expected to surpass 1.5 million by the year 2046. While currently around 35,000 people die in Ireland each year, this is expected to grow to 49,000 by 2046.
The number of people dying in Ireland from a condition that will require general and specialist palliative care is set to increase by 57% in the next 20 years from 25,669 to 40,355.
Yet, the number of workers paying taxes to fund the health and other social services for the elderly will decline unless large numbers of immigrant workers come to the country, or the fertility rate reverses course and starts rapidly increasing.
Over 10,000 women in Ireland have not attended a second appointment for an abortion indicating the three day waiting period is saving lives and must be retained, according to the Pro Life Campaign.
The Minister for Health released figures showing that in 2022 and 2023, 3,933 women didn’t return for a second abortion consultation with a GP following the waiting period.
In total, between 2019 and 2024, 10,426 women did not return for an abortion after the three-day waiting period following an initial consultation with a doctor, i.e. between 17% and 18% of the total.
In response, Deputy Carol Nolan said: “Any attempt to eliminate the three-day reflection period can now be seen for what it is; a morally reckless capitulation to an extreme abortion ideology.”
Eilís Mulroy, spokesperson for the Pro Life Campaign, said the figures show many thousands of women may have “accessed extra support, found alternatives, or simply needed time and space” before rushing into abortion.
“Any attempt to remove the reflection period would dismantle a safeguard that clearly makes a difference in real people’s lives.”
She added: “The latest data released strongly reinforces that the reflection period is working and should be retained”.
An overwhelming majority of parents favour marriage, as a lifelong exclusive commitment, for their children over all other kinds of relationships, according to a new poll.
The Sunday Independent/Ireland Thinks opinion survey asked: “When you think of your children or the children you might have in the future, what kind of relationship do you wish for them?”
Maria Steen, who was asked by The Sunday Independent to submit a question to the poll, welcomed the results because they show people still acknowledge that marriage “is an institution that is critical not only for the stability of society, but for individual happiness and fulfilment”.
She also noted a significant gender difference among young people: among 18- to 34-year-old 12pc of women favoured having multiple relationships instead of marriage, against only 3pc of men.
She said this is another indication that, “for the first time in generations (if ever), young men are becoming more conservative than young women in relation to sexual ethics”.
An advisory body has warned that Ireland’s population is at risk of a “vicious downward cycle” due to the cascading effects of a declining birth rate and the Government must act to reverse it.
The statement is contained in a report by the National Economic and Social Council (NESC), which researched recent demographic shifts across the country. Ireland’s fertility rate is currently at 1.5, well below the replacement level of 2.1 children per woman.
While lower population growth and migration may be tempting, the report said, this could create a “vicious cycle”.
“The effect of this is that fertility declines further, emigration rises, and the population continues to age,” the report said.
“Fiscal and pension pressures mount, constraining future investment and creating a downward spiral of stagnation, as well as intergenerational and regional unfairness. Once established, such dynamics can be very difficult to reverse.”
Instead, the NESC recommended planning for a “virtuous cycle” which sees demographic growth “as an opportunity and invests accordingly”.
This will require far greater investment in services.
“Fertility may be stabilised through stronger family supports: affordable childcare and housing, adequate parental leave, and income and welfare policies that de-risk family formation,” it said.
Mothers are more likely to have a clear sense of purpose in their lives, according to a new report by the Institute of Family Studies and the Wheatley Institute.
This aligns with past research which consistently shows mothers pulling ahead on a number of well-being metrics. That is despite a popular narrative that single women without children are happier than married mothers.
Data from the Women’s Well-Being Survey (WWS) of 3,000 U.S. women, ages 25 to 55, conducted by YouGov in early March 2025, showed that 28% of married mothers strongly agreed that their life has a clear sense of purpose, and 25% of unmarried mothers reported the same. This compares to 14% of married childless women and 16% of unmarried childless women on the same metric.
These findings square with research that shows, across the world, parents are more likely to report having a meaningful life.
A charity volunteer has been criminally charged in the UK for having stood and silently prayed outside an abortion facility, where attempts to “influence” those seeking an abortion is prohibited.
Isabel Vaughan-Spruce had previously been wrongfully arrested under local ordinance laws n Birmingham and received a settlement from West Midlands Police of £13,000.
This time she was charged under a new national “buffer zones” law.
It prohibits “influencing any person’s decision to access, provide or facilitate abortion services” within 150m of abortion facilities.
The Crown Prosecution Service’s guidance on the law stipulates that silent prayer on its own is not enough to meet the threshold of criminality unless it is accompanied by “overt” activity. The “overt” activity seems to be the act of standing publicly near the clinic.
Ms Vaughan-Spruce commented that “despite being fully vindicated multiple times after being wrongfully arrested for my thoughts, it’s unbelievable that I have yet again been charged for standing in that public area, and holding pro-life beliefs”.
“Silent prayer – or holding pro-life beliefs – cannot possibly be a crime. Everyone has the right to freedom of thought.”
TDs rejected an attempt to put a radical pro-abortion bill on the Dail agenda by a vote of 73 to 71 on Tuesday night.
The Private Members Bill, if it went into law, would completely decriminalise abortion, abolished the mandatory three-day waiting period and loosened restrictions on abortion up to birth where the unborn child has a life limiting condition.
While the bill was touted by People Before Profit TD, Paul Murphy, it received the support of some Government Ministers, including Jennifer Carroll MacNeill, Helen McEntee, Jack Chambers and James Lawless.
The Pro Life Campaign warmly welcomed the result with spokesperson, Eilís Mulroy, saying it “shows that many TDs are taking stock of the dramatic increase in abortions since the law changed and of the disturbing realities now emerging under the current legislation”.
“This includes the many testimonies of women who regret their abortions and who say they felt pressured under the current system toward abortion and weren’t offered any information beforehand about alternatives”.
A Department of Education survey determining the kind of primary schools parents want for their children closed on Tuesday night with over 230,000, or 47pc of eligible households, having filled out the questionnaire.
The survey – the largest of its kind ever undertaken in Ireland – was school-specific and assessed parental preference regarding patronage/ethos, co-education or single-sex schools, and language of instruction (English or Irish). It may lead to more divestment of Catholic schools.
Parents and guardians of children who are either in, or have yet to start, primary school were eligible to participate, as were school staff and boards of management.
The department says it will use the survey results to input into its analysis of national, local and school-specific data, to help it plan for schools into the future.
It says that where there is clear support for change to be considered, a further process of inclusive dialogue will begin.
