Dr. Patricia Lohr:

Ireland is fortunate that it has a country nearby where women can pay for and obtain safe abortion care. In many parts of the world where abortion is illegal or highly restricted that is not the case and women turn to unsafe means to end their pregnancies. This is associated with a very high maternal mortality rate in those countries. In Ireland's case we see that women who are able to afford to travel are able to obtain safe abortion care but I am sure there will be a number of women who cannot afford to travel who go on to continue pregnancies here that they would otherwise have terminated had abortion been available in Ireland. As we are aware, more and more women are obtaining abortion medications online here. While that is not an inherently unsafe activity these women lack the follow-up and other services they may benefit from, such as early pregnancy diagnostic services.