Yesterday, as Christmas holidays begin, the President signed into law the abortion bill which was passed by both houses of the Oireachtas. This paves the way for abortions to begin taking place in Irish GP surgeries and hospitals by order of the Minister for Health at the start of next year.

Separately, the Medical Council deleted provisions from its ethical code which will mean that ethical guidance on performing abortions will not be in place for doctors when the legislation comes into force next month. The Council deleted those provisions from its guide on professional conduct and ethics because they conflicted with the new Abortion Act. Two of the four deleted paragraphs state that a doctor has an ethical duty to make every reasonable effort to protect the life and health of pregnant women and their unborn babies; and that in exceptional circumstances, it may be necessary to terminate the pregnancy to protect the life of the mother while making every effort to preserve the life of the baby. Another paragraph has been slightly edited to change a reference from “abortion” to “termination of pregnancy”.

No moral reasoning was used to show why ethics must conform to the law.

The decision was taken at a specially convened meeting on Wednesday night. The council is updating the ethical guide but this process will not be ready in time for the introduction of abortion services on January 1st.