Pressure is already being applied to make the radical abortion legislation promised by the Government even more extreme [1]. 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 [2]”, 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.