Update 11.15am: Dr Joan McCarthy, a lecturer in Healthcare Ethics in the School of Nursing and Midwifery in University College Cork (UCC), presented a pro-choice perceptive to the assembly this morning.

Legislators should be free to vote on abortion in line with their conscience lest they risk breaking the moral compass that guides them, writes Dónal O’Mathúna.

Women will have to ask their doctor’s views on abortion if changes to the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill demanded by medical ethicist Dr Donal O’Mathuna are made.