Legislation to provide access “without harassment” to hospitals providing abortions has been introduced by Sinn Féin Senator Paul Gavan as the Government confirmed it is also drafting a Bill.

No country in Europe has a national law banning the practice.

Mr Gavan told the Seanad, without evidence, that daily protests being held outside hospitals across the State are attempting to “intimidate and cause upset” to those seeking abortions.

“They are invading the privacy and bodily autonomy of women and pregnant people at a profoundly vulnerable and sensitive time. People should not have to access healthcare like this,” he said, adding that people had “fundamental rights to privacy and dignity, especially so when they are visiting a hospital”.

Protesters who demonstrate outside pregnancy or contraception services or who harass, intimidate or record women within the buffer zone would face fines of up to €3,000 or imprisonment for up to six months. Under the legislation it would also be illegal to seek to influence a person’s decision to access an abortion or hold signs within the exclusion zone.

When legislation was introduced to provide for abortion in the wake of the 2018 referendum on the Eighth Amendment, a separate Bill was promised to prevent anti-abortion groups from going within a certain distance of hospitals.