Government must urgently implement the findings of the Abortion Review
Published: Monday, April 15, 2024
Civil society groups, frontline services, advocacy organisations, academics and doctors have written to government to demand urgent action
The National Women’s Council (NWC), along with civil society groups, frontline services, advocacy organisations, academics and doctors, have written an open letter to Government to demand improvements to abortion provision, stating that urgent action is needed to ensure the current law meets the needs of women and pregnant people. The letter calls for the full and effective implementation of the Independent Abortion Review recommendations. Changes needed include decriminalisation, removal of the mandatory 3-day wait, review of the 12-week gestational limit and action on legislation regarding Safe Access Zones.
Orla O’Connor, Director of the National Women’s Council said:
“In 2018, Ireland voted to provide compassionate care for women at home. The O’Shea review clearly shows that serious gaps remain in abortion care, resulting in significant barriers and distress for many women, with some still being forced to travel. We are calling on the Government to implement the recommendations of the review, without further delay, as well as all necessary legislative changes, to ensure safe, timely and equitable access to abortion.”
The signatories of the letter acknowledge efforts to improve operational aspects of abortion services in the past year – including 17 of the 19 maternity hospitals now providing care – but significant progress is still needed on many of the Review’s recommendations.
Dr Mary Favier, Doctors for Choice and START abortion providers group, said:
“The three-day wait is a significant impediment to timely care and criminalisation continues to stigmatise both providers and women. Community provision must be supported by a primary care lead focusing on evaluation of the service and targeted interventions to improve access. What needs to change has been well documented in the Review. It is time for political action and that time is now.”
The recommendations in the Review have a robust evidence base, rooted in the lived experiences of women who have accessed abortion services in Ireland. The onus is now on Government, who commissioned this Review, to act on these recommendations and ensure Ireland’s reproductive healthcare system is aligned with international best practice and can properly meet the needs of all women and pregnant people.
The letter to Government has been signed by the following:
Orla O’Connor, Director, the National Women’s Council
Alison Spillane, Research and Policy Coordinator, Irish Family Planning Association
Richael Carroll, Co-Convener, Abortion Rights Campaign
Ailbhe Smyth, Action for Choice
Ciara McHugh, Senior Helpline Coordinator, Abortion Support Network
Maria Joyce, Coordinator, National Traveller Women’s Forum
Karen Sugrue, Co-Chair, Together for Safety
Dr Marion Dyer & Dr Mary Favier, Doctors for Choice
Stephen Bowen, Executive Director, Amnesty International Ireland
Luna Lara Liboni, Senior Policy Officer, Irish Council for Civil Liberties
Patricia Acom, Women’s Support Officer, AkiDwA
Danielle Roberts, Co-convener, Alliance for Choice
Dr Catherine Conlon, Associate Professor Social Policy, TCD
Dr Lorraine Grimes, Applied Social Studies, Maynooth University
Dr Deirdre Duffy, Senior Lecturer in Sociology (Global Social Inequalities), Lancaster University
Dr Ruth Fletcher, Reader in Medical Law, Queen Mary University of London
Dr Kate Antosik-Parsons, Post-Doctoral Research Fellow in Social Studies, TCD
Prof Fiona de Londras, Barber Professor of Jurisprudence, University of Birmingham
Dr Camilla Fitzsimons & Dr Sinéad Kennedy, Academics for Reproductive Justice
Bernie Linnane, Leitrim for Choice
Ends/
For comment: Doireann Crosson, Women’s Health Coordinator at NWC and Dr Mary Favier, Doctors for Choice
For more information, please contact Catherine Hearn, NWC Communications Officer, 087 1965300 or catherineh@nwci.ie
Full text of letter:
Dear Taoiseach,
We are writing to request urgent action by Government to ensure the full and effective implementation of the Review of the operation of the Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act 2018 developed by Independent Chair, Marie O’Shea. This Review was published in April 2023, yet progress is awaited on many recommendations. Our call for immediate action is also reflected in the conclusions of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Health, whose December 2023 report supports the Review’s recommendations, describing them as necessary measures to ensure the 2018 Act meets the needs of women and called on the Government to advance their implementation without delay.
While we acknowledge efforts to improve operational aspects of abortion services in the past year – including 17 of the 19 maternity hospitals now providing care – significant barriers to equitable and accessible abortion services remain. These barriers include ongoing criminalisation, the mandatory 3- day wait, inadequate data collection, lack of safe access zones, uneven geographical coverage, and narrow rigid legal criteria for abortion access after 12-weeks; including the 28-day clause for fatal foetal anomalies. These obstacles have resulted in women and pregnant people being denied timely reproductive health care and, in many cases, being forced to travel abroad.1 To address these barriers – this coalition of service providers, civil society organisations, academics, and other relevant stakeholders – are calling on the Government to take the necessary legislative and operational steps, beginning with:
- Full decriminalisation of abortion in line with World Health Organisation (WHO) guidance to remove the chilling effect on healthcare providers, ensuring that they can use their clinical judgment to care for people without fear of prosecution
- Remove the mandatory three day wait period, ensuring timely access to abortion care
- Review the 12-weeks gestational limit to ensure women and pregnant people are not timing out of care and forced to travel abroad for essential reproductive healthcare
- Recruit a HSE Primary Care Lead for Termination of Pregnancy to address gaps in training, guidance, and data collection for early medical abortions
- Expedite legislation regarding Safe Access Zones, ensuring swift implementation to protect the areas adjacent to abortion services
The recommendations in the Review have a robust evidence base, rooted in qualitative research of the lived experiences of women who have accessed abortion services since the commencement of the Act. We call on the Government, who commissioned this Review, to immediately progress legislative amendments and service developments which accurately reflect the findings of the Review, the research underpinning its recommendations, and international best practice set out by the WHO. The review clause was included in the 2018 Act in recognition that healthcare policies should never be frozen in time. The Government cannot delay the necessary legislative and operational changes any further, political leadership is urgently required to ensure Ireland’s reproductive healthcare system is equitable and responsive to emerging evidence and clinical best practice so it can meet the needs of all women and pregnant people.
About the NWC Abortion Working Group
The Abortion Working Group, established in 2019 and chaired by NWC, is a collective of civil society organisations and healthcare providers. The group provides a space for information sharing and to coordinate work relating to ensuring access to timely and high-quality abortion services in Ireland. This includes monitoring the implementation of the independent abortion review and ensuring that women and pregnant people's experiences are reflected in legislation and policy, particularly those from marginalised groups and women who are still forced to travel to access abortion care.