Women seeking abortion in January will be left in the lurch unless doctors ‘step up’ and start executing the procedure, Minister for Health Simon Harris has warned.

He said he acknowledged some medical professionals were raising issues of genuine concern. However, he said he wanted to hear “solutions” and then for “clinical leadership to prevail”.

His comments come after warnings from obstetricians that abortion would not be ready to roll out in hospitals at the start of January. The Minister is to meet doctors’ representative organisations today, where an outline of new clinical guidelines is expected to be considered. “I will be using this opportunity to ask the stakeholders to put their shoulder to the wheel and assist the HSE in providing this much needed service. I am eager to hear their concerns, not through the airwaves or the papers, but directly and I will not shirk from my responsibility in responding appropriately. But I also want to hear solutions.”

The Sunday Business Post reported yesterday that Dublin’s three maternity hospitals were unable to guarantee they would be in a position to carry out abortions from the beginning of January.

Mr Harris said on Sunday “without a start date, women will still travel and will still take illegal pills. Any delay will affect the 12 women a day who find themselves in crisis pregnancies and only have the internet or the plane as solutions.”