The minister for health is engaged in a campaign of misinformation about his own proposed abortion legislation, Save the 8th has said today. The organisation challenged the Minister to debate the heads of the bill, which have already been published, rather than “name calling through a press officer”. The organisation pointed to several inconsistencies between the heads of the bill, and Minister Harris’s own public statements about the bill.

A spokesperson for Save The 8th said that Minister Harris has said that “late term abortions will be illegal”. However, the spokesperson said there is no such prohibition on late term abortions in the heads of bill published by the Government. He continued: “Minister Harris has said that in cases where the foetus can survive outside the womb, the baby will be delivered. However, no such provision exists in his bill. Indeed, ‘termination of pregnancy’ is defined in his bill as: ‘termination of pregnancy means a medical procedure which is intended to end the life of the foetus'”.

Most prominently, according to Savethe8th, Minister Harris said in a statement last week that it was a “big lie” to say abortions would be legal at six months. “This is patently and obviously untrue. The heads of the bill allow an abortion until viability where there is a risk of serious harm to the mental health of the mother, where ‘serious harm’ is undefined in the bill”, said the spokesperson.