Provide them with the option to have treatment here then FFS!

It’s no ones business, but the person who want’s the procedure done!

We already know this. In 2009 alone Customs seized 1216 abortion pills on their way into the state. Those are just the ones they caught; we don’t know how many got through. We also don’t know how many women ordered “abortion pills” and were sent something else entirely.

In a recession, when it’s more expensive to travel for abortion, the number has probably only gone up.

Abortion is a sign that society has not properly met the needs of women.

It’s not something that any woman wants to do or enjoys doing; it’s something women do because (ironically) they feel they have no other choice.

This is much more than a legal issue – it’s an issue all of society should be concerned about.
How do we as a society view women who become pregnant unexpectedly? How do we react when a friend tells us that she’s pregnant? As employers and educators, are we supportive and accommodating parents in the workplace and at universities?

They most important thing in regard to this issue is supporting women who find themselves in hard situations – be that anything from unplanned pregnancy to their circumstances changing or relationship breaking down during the course of the pregnancy.

Women and babies deserve better than abortion.

I think anyone who buys any medication on line must be completely mad, or have a death wish. Crazy stuff.

Abortion will continue to happen no matter what legislation is in place either in England or illegally. People should be allowed to have abortions here, irregardless of your moral position on it, it should not be the right of government to decide what somebody does with their bodies.

Never judge someone unless you’ve walked in their shoes…. I personally don’t agree with abortion….I couldn’t say I wouldn’t consider it if I was raped….although I do believe life is sacred……I think it’s naive to think an abortion is the solution……so many women regret it & torture themselves for the rest of their lives….how many women regret having their children once they are born ?? Women should have a choice but it doesn’t make it right – it’s killing a little person regardless – I feel sorry for any women who feels they have no other choice or support to have their baby

Often the mother is the vulnerable too, but two wrongs don’t make the situation any better.

I’d worry that if abortion was legalised that it would come to be seen as the easy option, i.e. cheaper and easier for the medical institutions and therefore the one that would be pushed on mothers. Meanwhile, if we start to arbitrarily decide when a foetus become a living being, it’s become a road to desensitising the individual.

Saying that, I don’t think women should be prosecuted for it, in most cases. They already have a hard enough time but totally against state facilitation.

We need to end our cowardly approach to this issue and stop exporting the problem to the UK and elsewhere. Abortion is a reality for thousands of Irish women and they should be able to make an informed choice about whether to continue with their pregnancies here at home. Where abortion is illegal, many desperate women will obviously resort to unsafe methods such as ordering unregulated medicines online, and as has been pointed out already, this is only likely to increase in these recessionary times.

February will see the 20th anniversary of the X case judgement, and in that time we have seen two referendums proposing to overturn that decision rejected, along with the European judgement demanding that we honour our legal obligations in this area. Opinion polls have also revealed that most Irish voters support abortion in circumstances that go beyond the narrow remit of X. It is well past time then that our political class started showing some leadership on the issue and introduced long overdue legislation.