LABOUR HAVE CALLED for the Government to remove existing restrictions on accessing abortion services, saying that it places an “enormous burden” on women experiencing crisis pregnancies.

Senator Annie Hoey said that existing abortion services are not working for women in crisis pregnancies, citing the three day waiting period in particular.

Hoey, who is a member of the Oireachtas Health Committee, was reacting to reports in the Irish Times, which detailed that Health Minister Stephen Donnelly had received the review into abortion legislation.

This legislation has been under repeated review since being implemented in 2019, with a previous report detailing that it is not sufficient for women seeking terminations for fatal foetal abnormalities.

When the report was published, Donnelly said that it was “heartbreaking”.

Hoey says that this is particularly unfair for women living in rural areas, who are then required to make two trips – one for consultation and one for abortion care. 

“This piece of the legislation is entirely unworkable. We must remove the wait period from the legislation and remove the mandatory secondary consultation. Women are more than able to make their own decision on their own,” Hoey said.

“The State should not inflict more trauma and stress on women in crisis pregnancy. All evidence points towards the importance of compassion and trusting women to know themselves better than anyone else can.”

Hoey added that while it was important to discuss the findings of the review, she could not think of another healthcare service which was subject to as much debate.

The current review into the abortion legislation was initially kicked off by Donnelly in 2021, with a public consultation taking place alongside it.

In recent months, there has also been focus on safe access zones legislation, with the Health Committee being told in January that there is yet to be progress on a timeline for the new laws.

The proposed laws, which Donnelly labelled as a “priority”, will designate a protest exclusion zone of 100 metres around all healthcare facilities capable of providing abortion services, including those not currently offering termination of pregnancy.

Plans to legislate for the zones were approved by Cabinet in July 2022.