The chair of the review into Ireland’s abortion laws has said it is “vitally important” that key research on how conscientious objection rights have operated since the State’s laws were changed is completed before her work is submitted to Government.
Barrister Marie O’Shea was last year appointed as the independent chair of the review into the State’s abortion laws. Coalition sources said in December that her work was on track to be delivered by the end of 2022.
While “a very substantial amount of work” has been completed, the review is not yet ready as the chair wants to see imminent research on conscientious objection before she submits her much-anticipated report.
A spokesman for the Department of Health said the review “is assessing the effectiveness of the operation of the legislation and comprises of two main phases”.
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“As part of the first phase of the review, information and evidence on the operation of the Act has been collected from women who use the service, and from health professionals that provide the service; the views of the public were also sought.”
The spokesman said “a very substantial amount of work has been completed and very informative data collected that is feeding into the review”.
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“The chair is awaiting key research from a study, Conscientious Objection after Repeal: Abortion, Law and Ethics (CORALE), being carried out at Trinity College Dublin, that is examining Section 22 of the Act regarding conscientious objection.
“This research is due to be completed this month, with input from lawyers, hospital doctors, GPs and strategic managers, and this data will also inform the review. The opinion of the chair is that this data is vitally important, as it will assist in understanding how Section 22 is operating.”
The Termination of Pregnancy Act provided for a review of the legislation three years after its implementation. This work began a year ago.
The Act, which came into effect on January 1st, 2019, provides abortion without restriction up to 12 weeks’ gestation, subject to a three-day waiting period.
Terminations are also permitted after 12 weeks if there is a risk to the life or health of the mother, or in cases where it is judged the foetus will die before, or within, 28 days of birth.
As part of the review, politicians have argued for widespread changes to the abortion legislation.
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Some politicians have proposed a less restrictive regime, while others are pushing for stricter rules.
Some 7,000 submissions were made during a public consultation process. A number of TDs and Senators have called for widespread changes and a relaxation to the laws as part of the consultation process, with many demanding changes to the 12-week limit, the three-day waiting period to access an abortion and the rules around terminations in the case of fatal foetal abnormalities.
Furthermore, former master of the Rotunda Hospital Fergal Malone said that the three-day wait – the period of time a woman must wait before getting access to abortion medication – is “stigmatising” and “paternalistic”.
“The three-day wait is, we feel, wrong in principle. As far as we can see, it is the only aspect of healthcare where a grown adult who has full control of their mental capacities is not listened to and is told to go away and come back in three days. There is no requirement, we feel, to have that there. As a principle, it is paternalistic and stigmatises women further by saying pregnant women are not in control of their faculties and need extra time. It does not sit well.”
Others have called for a more restrictive regime, with Aontú proposing the 12-week limit be tightened to 10 weeks, while it said the three-day wait should be made longer. The party wants women to wait five days to get access to termination services and medication.
