Politicians set to hear calls for less restrictive abortion regime

Politicians will hear calls for a less restrictive abortion regime, including extending the current 12-week limit to allow terminations on request “up to viability”.

The National Women's Council (NWC) and the Irish Family Planning Association (IFPA) will suggest reforms to the rules on abortion when representatives appear before the Oireachtas Health Committee on Wednesday.

The committee meeting comes amid a separate ongoing review of Ireland’s abortion laws chaired by barrister Marie O’Shea with a report due to be delivered to Government later this year.

Abortion was legalised in Ireland following a 2018 referendum and terminations began in 2019.

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The current system involves a three-day waiting period and abortions are available on request up to 12 weeks into a pregnancy.

Terminations can only be carried out after that time period if there is a threat to the life or health of a mother or if doctors believe the foetus is likely to die before or within 28 days of birth because of a problem with its development.

NWC’s director Orla O’Connor will tell the committee three areas need to be addressed: the “restrictive legal framework” for abortions; poor national coverage; and an absence of “robust data collection”.

Ms O’Connor’s opening statement says the current law “acts as a gatekeeper creating a series of obstacles that prevent access to abortion, disproportionately affecting the most marginalised”.

WHO guidance

She outlines how World Health Organisation (WHO) guidance "recommends against laws that prohibit abortion based on gestational age limits and is clear that gestational age limits are not evidence-based".

IFPA representatives will also argue that the law is restrictive and recommends that Ireland follows WHO guidelines which call for decriminalisation of abortion and access to abortion on request.

Ms O’Connor will tell TDs and Senators that Ireland’s “strict 12-week window, which is actually just 10 weeks from conception, is particularly challenging if you have irregular periods, need to undergo an ultrasound scan, and then have the mandatory three-day wait”.

She says it is “women who are the most vulnerable who are impacted the most: for example, adolescents, disabled women and pregnant people, women in situations of domestic violence who may not have freedom to leave the house.”

Ms O’Connor also says the 28-day mortality clause for fatal foetal anomalies is “very problematic”.

She adds: “This has caused significant challenges for doctors in determining eligibility, as well as huge heartbreak for women and families.”

Travelling abroad

And, she says, the NWC is “particularly alarmed” at the number of women still travelling to the UK due to the 28-day mortality clause.

She says that doctors who provide abortions outside the specific circumstances laid out in Irish law may face a prison sentence of up to 14 years.

NWC is recommending that “abortion be available on request up to viability to ensure that no woman or pregnant person is forced to travel abroad for essential reproductive healthcare.”

While the viability of a foetus is widely assessed as being 24 weeks, the Irish Times understands NWC is not specifying a number of weeks as its view is that it needs to be a decision between a woman and her doctor.

They are also seeking the removal of the three-day waiting period and “the full decriminalisation of abortion care”.

Ms O’Connor will also raise concern about national coverage of abortion services. She will highlight how only one-in-10 GPs are registered to provide abortion services with just 7 per cent registered with the HSE’s My Options service.

Just 10 of Ireland’s 19 maternity hospitals provide full abortion care.

The NWC is recommending that safe-access-zones legislation be introduced “to give healthcare staff assurance that in stepping up to provide a vital service they will be protected from harassment or intimidation”.