A new review of the State’s abortion law is likely to recommend the axing of a safeguard designed to allow women breathing space before deciding whether to have an abortion.
Such a move would significantly increase the number of abortions taking place every year, according to the Pro-Life Campaign [1] (PLC).
Two senior political sources told the Irish Times [2] that the review recommends a “loosening” of the current law, including the potential removal of the three-day wait to access an abortion.
Commenting on the media report, the PLC’s Eilís Mulroy said in the first three years of the abortion law 3,951 women did not proceed beyond the first consultation, calling it “solid evidence” that thousands of women used the period to decide for keeping their baby.
Axing that would “without question” lead to another significant rise in abortion numbers, she said.
Ms Mulroy also noted that many people who voted Yes in 2018 did so following assurances that this three-day period would be a central component of the eventual abortion law. It was part of the ‘strict guidelines’ which then-Tánaiste Simon Coveney said impacted his decision to call for a Yes vote.
She concluded that removing that safeguard now would be “a betrayal of voters and of women in need”.