Pressure is already being applied to make the radical abortion legislation promised by the Government even more extreme. Solidarity TD Ruth Coppinger has called on the Government to explicitly allow for abortion of the disabled beyond the 12 week timeframe and to remove the three-day waiting period before a woman will receive a requested abortion.

Ms Coppinger has sent a lengthy submission to Minister for Health Simon Harris, who is preparing a Bill to regulate the termination of pregnancy. Her submission, which was written by Dr Abigail Aiken of the University of Texas, includes a call for legislation to enforce a “buffer zone” excluding protestors from getting access to women seeking abortion services.

Ms Coppinger also asked Minister Simon Harris in the Dáil on Wednesday that the legislation be “trans-inlcusive”, meaning that abortion should not be restricted just to women, but should be available to all “pregnant persons”. This is because the State now recognises some biological females as men.