Women seeking an abortion during the coronavirus outbreak will not need to visit a GP in most cases, under guidelines issued by the Department of Health on Tuesday evening. The easing of restrictions are meant to apply only for the duration of the Covid-19 emergency.

Instead of face to face meetings with their GP, women seeking abortions will instead consult with their GPs on the phone or via video chat.

Responding to the new Department of Health guidelines, Pro Life Campaign spokesperson Eilís Mulroy said it is “utterly reckless” that Minister Simon Harris has approved these new guidelines. “When ushering in his new abortion law in 2018, he repeatedly gave assurances about how safe his new abortion law would be for women, citing the two visits that the pregnant woman would have to make to her GP before any abortion took place. But in the blink of an eye, the Minister has done a complete about turn in order to facilitate abortions taking place during the Covid-19 lockdown. Abortion is never safe for the baby as it directly ends his or her life, but now we have a situation where women’s lives are also being put at risk”.