Early warning over abortion legislation

The Government was warned before it passed the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act that the law would create problems of the kind that have arisen in the current abortion controversy.

In presentations to public hearings of the Oireachtas Health Committee, Doctors for Choice (DfC) said the law would have a disproportionate impact on women who could not travel abroad for abortion.

Predicting that immigrant women would be left in particular difficulty, DfC said: “The failure to legalise abortion particularly affects women who have low incomes or have no independent source of income to cover the substantial cost of travel. It also affects women who have no right to travel due to their immigration status [usually asylum seeker women].”