A pro-choice GP has said he is “incredibly proud” to participate in the provision of abortion under the new Irish law, adding, “It is a privilege (and challenge) being a GP, but I have never been as professionally rewarded, as in the past seven weeks.”
Writing in The Irish Times, he dismissed the criticism of other pro-choice advocates who say the roll-out of the new regime is too slow. He said instead that the country had “set a world record for the implementation of a comprehensive abortion service”, and even claimed that “we are the envy of many healthcare systems.”
Nonetheless, despite having achieved the goal of so-called ‘free, safe, and legal’ abortion in community settings around the country, he signaled a need to expand the regime even further. This included the expansion of the number of GPs providing abortions; exclusion zones outside hospitals and GP clinics; eliminating the three day waiting period; the universal, free provision of contraception; free abortions for women from the North; and the expansion of abortion law itself to cater for women who have been “left behind, including those who are pregnant beyond 12 weeks.”
