Review of Ireland's abortion laws recommends adjustments

[OnDoutside]

Five years on from a massive 66 per cent vote in favour in the 2018 referendum, Ireland’s abortion laws have been the subject of a review as part of legislation introduced in the wake of that vote. If there were another vote held today, it is likely that the margin would be even wider, as more older people die and young people become eligible to vote.

Despite that, the sneaky, slimy anti-abortion crowd are up to their usual tricks to fight access to abortion services, although in the face of fierce headwinds.

The good news is that when the law was passed, there was a stipulation that a review would be carried out in 5 years to review the effectiveness and these are the main points

it recommends that the mandatory three-day waiting period to access a termination be substituted with “a mandatory obligation on medical practitioners to advise the pregnant woman that she has a statutory right to a reflection period, which she may exercise, at her own discretion”.

The review states that the statutory requirement that informed consent may only be given after at least three days have elapsed from the date of the first consultation is a “contentious issue”. It states that whilst there is “perceived benefit” to having a period of reflection to ensure that the decision is not made in haste and later regretted, “it is perceived by others as an infringement on their personal reproductive autonomy”.

It points out that termination of pregnancy services are not configured to run 365 days a year, meaning the three-day wait can extend to a four or five-day wait for treatment if the first visit takes place towards the end of the week, particularly if it coincides with public holidays.

“The mandatory waiting period can impose a physical and psychological burden on women,” the review states. It says the waiting period may cause women to time out of eligibility for care in Ireland, especially if the three days is extended. It states that this “disproportionately affects women” who may not realise that they are pregnant until later in the first trimester or who may have delayed in seeking care, or who may have timed out due to failure of previous treatment to terminate the pregnancy.

Full story here ....

https://www.thejournal.ie/review-abortion-legislation-three-day-waiting-period-6053398-Apr2023/


The report has highlighted a series of worrying problems within Ireland’s abortion services with some women being blocked or delayed from accessing care due to the beliefs of some healthcare workers. Some 25,000 abortions have been carried out in Ireland since new laws came into place in 2019 following a referendum.

The report warns that there is an uneven availability of abortion services geographically across the country with 422 GPs providing the service but with few available in the south east, north west, midlands and border counties. Only 11 of our 19 maternity hospitals are offering abortion services with the HSE stating that “contentious objection” being a major factor in why all hospitals are not offering the service.

[Ilsa]

1. Women in this century in Ireland have died from sepsis because

there was still a heartbeat in a nonviable pregnancy. These control laws are sickening.

[Irish_Dem]

3. Right, three days of dying a tortuous horrible death.

Makes me sick too.

[OnDoutside]

4. Indeed they have but this should be eliminated as an issue, once the coverage of these services has

nationwide spread. The problem left has been largely due to quite deliberate non-compliance by provincial health services that is being hindered by catholic vested hospitals. Hopefully the implementation of these recommendations will solve this.

[Mad_Machine76]

2. We need a similar review here apparently