Women will still go to UK for abortion even if law is changed, health minister claims

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill has said legislation put forward by the Social Democrats will not fix "every single situation". Picture: Grainne Ni Aodha/PA Wire

Many women will continue travelling to the UK for abortions even if the current law is changed, the Health Minister has said.

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill has said legislation put forward by the Social Democrats will not fix "every single situation" and said that many of those seeking terminations in the UK do not relate to fatal foetal abnormalities.

The proposed reforms of Ireland’s abortion laws brought forward by Holly Cairns' party call for the removal of the three-day waiting period and would also address the need for women to travel abroad in cases of fatal foetal abnormalities.

However, speaking during a debate on the measures, Ms Carroll MacNeill said: "There are not 240 women travelling because of fatal foetal abnormality. There are some, but there are many women travelling for other reasons.

"There are different thresholds in the UK and Ireland. Some who are travelling will never meet the threshold in Ireland because the UK threshold is about serous handicap and others. The group of women is not 240. It is a much smaller number. They are very case specific. Some of them will not be fixed by legislation of this kind."

She asked the Social Democrats and other members of the opposition to join her in meeting the National Women and Infants Health Programme (NWIHP) to "hear more of the reality".

Ms MacNeill added: "We will never be able to fix this for every single situation. That is what I am trying to say. That is practically impossible in this context."

Calling on politicians, who were given a free vote on the matter, to support her party's proposals, Ms Cairns highlighted the case of Denise Whitmore who nearly died travelling to England for a termination after receiving a fatal foetal diagnosis.

"After everything they had already endured, Denise and her husband Mark were advised to smuggle their daughter Éadha home in the boot of their car so they could bring her home to Ireland. That is the result of our current legislation - grieving parents made to feel like criminals for wanting to bring their daughter home. That is not what Ireland voted for in 2018."

She added: "As legislators, we do not get to look away from the reality because it is uncomfortable or complicated. We are the only people in this country with the power to fix laws that are causing harm."