Review of country's abortion laws recommends removing three day wait period

The review, to be published by Health Minister Stephen Donnelly, recommends 10 legislative and 60 operational changes. Picture: Brian Lawless/PA

A recommendation to remove the three-day wait period to access medication for abortion will be one of the contentious issues in a review of the country's abortion laws.

The review, to be published by Health Minister Stephen Donnelly, recommends 10 legislative and 60 operational changes.

There were around 17,820 abortions carried out here between the legislation coming into effect in January 2019, and December 2022.

The Oireachtas health committee will be tasked with examining the report by barrister Marie O’Shea. Cross-party TDs and senators can make their own recommendations.

To address barriers to access to abortion, one of Ms O’Shea’s recommendations states the Department of Health should consider amending the current legislation to expand the range of health professionals who can provide abortion services.

There is already “unease” over the recommendation to replace the mandatory three-day wait period to access medication for termination with a mandatory obligation on the GP to inform the person seeking an abortion that they are entitled to a reflection period.

Mixed reaction

Fine Gael sources have said there is reluctance to see the three-day wait period between GP appointments removed, because while they campaigned for a Yes vote, they gave constituents a commitment that there would be safeguards in place.

They feel that agreeing to remove the wait time would be “reneging” on this commitment during the 2018 referendum campaign.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has already said he would be "reluctant and uncomfortable" to make any major changes to the legislation on abortions.

His comments have been criticised by Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns and People Before Profit TD Bríd Smith. Ms Cairns said she is “uncomfortable with women’s legal right to essential healthcare being either obstructed or denied".

Ms Smith pointed out to the Taoiseach in the Dáil that the review was about the lived experiences of women.

The report, seen by the Irish Examiner, states the statutory requirement that informed consent to access an termination may only be given after at least three days have elapsed from the date of the first consultation is a “contentious issue".

The waiting period can “impose a physical and psychological burden on women,” the report says.

This can be as a result of services not opening 365 days a year, it can be problematic for marginalised and vulnerable service users and it can also cause women to time out of eligibility for care in Ireland. 

In her findings, Ms O’Shea said this disproportionately affects women who may not realise that they are pregnant until later in the first trimester or who may have delayed seeking care, or who may have timed out due to failure of previous treatment to terminate the pregnancy.

Other recommendations include the decriminalisation of doctors and changes to the granting of abortions in the case of fatal foetal abnormalities.

There are also differing views among members on the health committee. Some say they believe it is too soon to make any changes to legislation that is quite new.

Others are in support of removing the waiting period. Cross-party TDs will seek to bring Ms O’Shea and people involved in the research before the committee to discuss the review.

Some Fianna Fáil TDs have privately expressed concern that opening debate on the issue will become “difficult".