A 'Rally for Life' took place in Dublin city centre today to ask the Government to address what it describes as "spiralling" abortion rates and the need to retain the three-day wait before an abortion can take place.
Around 3,000 people attended the Rally for Life event, which began at the Garden of Remembrance at 1pm.
It then travelled down O'Connell Street before speeches took place on the quays.
Among the political groups and politicians in attendance were Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín, Rural Independent TD Mattie McGrath, Independent Senator Sharon Keogan and members of the National Party.
The rally was focused on what organisers said was, in their view, the need to "hold the Government to account for the spiralling abortion rate".
This, they said, includes calling for the three-day wait before abortion to be retained, and the rally's concerns over a Dáil bill seeking to extend the period of time into a pregnancy that a woman can have an abortion which recently passed second stage in the Dáil.
"We now know that the abortion numbers jumped 22% last year," Rally for Life spokesperson Megan Ní Scealláin said.
"There were 8,156 abortions in 2022 - up from an estimated 6,700 the previous year.
"This rise is both steep and deeply disturbing, and it's also heartbreaking.
"We're seeing calls for the three-day wait before abortion to be scrapped - even though about 4,000 women between 2019-2022 did not return for an abortion after the three-day period of reflection," she said.
Ireland's abortion laws were changed in 2019 after a historic referendum in 2018 which was passed by 66.4% to 33.6%.
The referendum took place after a lengthy process which included discussions during the 2016 government formation and programme for government talks, a Citizens' Assembly and a cross-party Oireachtas eighth amendment Committee.
