Mr. Niall Behan:

With respect to the way the services have changed or what we find are the needs of clients who have been using the services during the past 15 or 20 years, previously women came to us looking for phone numbers and addresses and where to go in the UK, they are coming to us now much more informed, having done an Internet search. They have an idea about where they want to go if they have made up their mind that they want to have an abortion. They may have a question. The other major shift we have seen is that the stigma is reducing, although it is still there and plays a huge part. The woman coming to us now will probably have told more people now than the woman who came to us 20 years ago about her intention either to have an abortion or if she is coming back for post-abortion care having had an abortion. We put this down to a breaking down of the stigma. We see more of our clients now presenting with someone. About 50% of the women who come to use our services present with either a friend or a relation. That is broken down roughly half and half between a male partner and either a mother, a friend, a sister or an aunt, where previously the women were mostly presenting alone.