Abortion legislation will ‘limit access to treatment’

European human rights authorities have been warned that the proposed abortion legislation will limit access to treatment and that requests for terminations should be decided within three days and not in a matter of weeks.

The body that oversees implementation of rulings by the European Court of Human Rights is expected this week to make a statement on the Government’s response to the ABC v Ireland case.

The Committee of Ministers in the Council of Europe is monitoring the coalition’s implementation of the ruling, which found that Ireland must make life-saving abortion services available.

In advance of this week’s communiqué from the committee, the Irish Family Planning Association has expressed its reservations to European authorities about the draft legislation.

The association says the draft legislation “limits real possibilities to access treatment” for women. It does not place “sufficient duty of care on the health services to provide access to a lawful treatment”, it says.

The IFPA says pregnant women concerned about a risk to their life approach medical services before the risk becomes imminent. It says the draft proposal “does not guarantee these women timely access to appropriate services”.

“The draft legislation is silent in relation to referral pathways from primary to tertiary care and fails to stipulate a timeframe within which a woman must be examined by two specialists and a termination must take place if a risk to a pregnant woman’s life is certified,” it adds.

Under the current draft legislation, a woman who is concerned that pregnancy involves a risk to her life could be subjected to delays, uncertainty or refusal of care, it says.

The Government made its own submission to the European committee on May 8, a week after it published the Protection of Maternal Life Bill.

It is expected European authorities will this week refer to the legislation in its own response. However, it remains unclear whether the abortion bill will meet the demands of the body overseeing the European ruling.

The IFPA says in its submission that the legislation contains separate provisions for cases of risk to life for mental health reasons and those for physical health grounds alone. There are more “onerous decision-making procedures” in mental health cases, it says.

The IFPA say that women would face “an unacceptable additional delay in accessing treatment” because the legislation includes an appeal procedure to resolve differences of opinion between a woman and her doctors, or elsebetween doctors. The association has stated in its submission that once an application for a review of a termination is made, a decision should be given within no more than three days.

Meanwhile, thousands of anti-abortion campaigners took to the streets of Dublin over the weekend urging the Government to scrap its plans for new abortion laws.

As Taoiseach Enda Kenny dismissed calls by Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin to give TDs a free vote on the legislation, organisers said well over 40,000 people attended the vigil in Merrion Square.

Pro Life Campaign spokeswoman Caroline Simons said the turnout was evidence that Ireland’s middle ground is concerned about the loosening of the country’s strict abortion regime.

“There are people here who never attended a pro-life event before,” Ms Simons said.

“The message is getting through that this legislation is not restrictive or about saving women and children’s lives, despite the repeated claims by the Taoiseach and his Government.”

She said it is “time for the spin to stop” and claimed that even the medical profession is divided over the legislation.