Marie Stopes International has confirmed that they will begin to turn away Irish women seeking an abortion.

It is blaming the demand for their services as a reason for this move. They will begin to prioritise British patients, referred by the NHS, over Irish women who travel to the UK for an abortion. Women who have already booked appointments won't be affected. They did confirm that it will be in place temporarily, rather than permanently. They have said that they will assist women from Ireland and will refer them to the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS). However, a spokeswoman for the BPAS has said that they too are under strain in dealing with demand saying:

“We’re looking at our capacity across the country. Irish women may have to go to slightly different locations to access our services."

A spokesperson for the Maria Stopes Clinic told The Times:

"January and February are always the busiest times of year and we are currently managing high demand by referring some women to other providers to ensure they can be seen as soon as possible. Our priority is ensuring women obtain the earliest possible appointment and we are working with organisations in Ireland to ensure provision is there for women who go via their networks. We are managing demand by focusing on NHS clients but our helpline is very clear to everyone that calls that if they have difficulty finding another provider they should call us back.”

We reached out to Marie Stopes for a comment and Paul McPartlan, the managing director, said:

“We’d like to reassure people that we are not suspending any services. January and February are always the busiest times of year for all abortion services and we are currently managing high demand by referring private clients to other providers to ensure they can be seen as soon as possible. This is a temporary measure. We believe getting women access to services quickly is the right thing to do when our wait times are high. We'll always support Irish women however we can in Belfast, in England and through our helpline 24 hours a day so they can be seen as quickly as possible. If women have any questions they can call us from Northern Ireland on 0345 300 3737, and from the Republic of Ireland (Freephone) on 1 800 200 374."