The abortion law review has been criticised over the research it cites to justify removing the three day waiting time for abortion.

The review author referenced a 2021 study of 475 women which found only 11 (or 2% of the total) did not return for a second consultation. However, the official figures from the HSE were overlooked. Those show that of approximately 23,000 women who made an initial abortion appointment, 3,951 did not return for an abortion. This represents 17% of the women compared to the 2% figure cited in the review’s report.

Commenting, Pro Life Campaign spokesperson, Eilís Mulroy, said it’s “absolutely incredible” that the report could recommend such a drastic change based on “an outlier study of a small sample of women, yet it ignores the overall national evidence made publicly available by the HSE”.

She added: “Inexplicably, the author of this much-vaunted ‘independent’ report ignored the official national statistics from the HSE, but instead cited a study based on data collected by the pro-abortion campaigning group START.”