The proposed law to allow for widespread abortion in the State for the first time would affect maternity services and prolong waiting lists for gynaecological surgery, according to senior obstetricians and health officials speaking to the Oireachtas health committee yesterday.

Contrary to the widespread assumption that the new law would predominantly involve merely GPs prescribing abortion pills to women in the very early weeks of pregnancy, Dr Peter McKenna, clinical director of the HSE’s Women and Infant’s programme, said around 40pc of terminations would need to be done surgically rather than using an abortion pill and, he said, this will have resource implications. Dr Peter Boylan, chairman of the Institute of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, added that waiting lists for women in need of surgery for benign gynaecology procedures are already far too long. “Benign gynaecology gets no mention in the national maternity strategy and this is a serious deficiency which needs to be addressed,” he said. The lack of medical staff in maternity services was also a cause of “serious concern”, he added.