Abortion review expected to be sent to Minister within weeks

A review of the State’s abortion laws will be sent to Government within weeks as campaigners have called for it to be published without delay.

Barrister Marie O’Shea was last year appointed as the independent chairwoman of the review into the State’s abortion laws. Coalition sources said on Friday that the review is now expected to be submitted in “a short number of weeks”.

In January, the Department of Health said Ms O’Shea believed it was “vitally important” that key research on conscientious objection was considered before the work was submitted to Government.

The chairwoman was awaiting key research from a study, Conscientious Objection after Repeal: Abortion, Law and Ethics, carried out at Trinity College Dublin.

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The National Women’s Council (NWC) has argued that key changes are “urgently needed” and that clarity is required on the Government’s next steps. They have called for the report to be published without delay. The NWC said the criminalisation of doctors, the mandatory three-day waiting period and the 12-week limit are “all limiting access to abortion for those who need it and this review must lead to evidence-led legislative reform”.

The NWC has written to Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly and chairman of the Oireachtas health committee Seán Crowe calling for the committee to examine the findings and make recommendations to Government.

‘Criminal charges’

Director of the NWC Orla O’Connor said: “Many people are not aware that, outside of very narrowly defined circumstances, doctors and other medical professionals face criminal charges for carrying out an abortion. Take the devastating example of a doctor who diagnoses a fatal foetal abnormality after 12 weeks but cannot say with certainty that the child would die within 28 days of birth. That doctor will not be able to provide care to this woman at home in Ireland because abortion is criminalised in those circumstances. It is still the case that women in this heartbreaking situation are having to travel for abortion services with all the stress and trauma that this entails.”

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 abortion legislation. Some politicians have proposed a less restrictive regime, while others are pushing for stricter rules.