Some 6,673 Irish women had abortions last year, Ms Olive Braiden, chairwoman of the Crisis Pregnancy Agency (CPA), said at the Cura national conference in Sligo at the weekend.
She also said research had established that nearly a third of all female lone parent households were assessed as being at risk of poverty.
It had also been found that unmarried and separated lone mothers had considerably lower education levels than the average for all mothers, she added.
Cura was set up by the Catholic bishops to help women dealing with crisis pregnancy.
Its president, the Bishop of Killala, Dr John Fleming, told the conference that about 30 per cent of those who find themselves in an unexpected or unwanted pregnancy did not consult any of the supports available.
Ms Braiden said research indicated that a woman's decision to have an abortion was often made very quickly. The CPA's Positive Options campaign, in which Cura participates, was seeking to remove many barriers women feel exist in accessing counselling. The campaign led to over 130,000 inquiries for information via text message since its establishment a year ago, she said.
Bishop Fleming said "ours is the task to help build a culture of care, service, compassion and understanding in modern Ireland. This we do against the background of our faith and in the context of an Ireland that is becoming increasingly secular and materialistic."
Ms Braiden said research indicated that the decision of many women to have an abortion centred on the woman's assessment of her ability to care for the child. Some of the main reasons for making this decision included the child's needs, stigma of lone parenthood, career and job related concerns.
"A challenge ahead for all of us is to change the current feelings of many women in Irish society who are made to feel ashamed and very isolated.
" Raising awareness of existing support networks, such as Cura, is of paramount importance," she said.
The CPA would also strive to ensure that the needs of women who had an abortion were appropriately met, she said.
In a homily yesterday, Bishop Fleming said "critics of Church teaching and the mentality of so many people in today's culture of instant action and easy reaction to almost every crisis or inconvenience, would have us believe that the Church is outdated in its teaching and belief, especially in the area of morality and the respect for human life. In an age where animal life can result from cloning and the whole area of stem-cell research is seen to offer endless possibilities for the creation and prolongation of life, the realisation that human life is sacred and a gift from God is more and more difficult to promote. However, that is our belief, that is our view on life itself and that is the God-given opportunity that is ours."
