{"id":422587,"date":"2026-04-29T01:24:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T01:24:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/422587\/"},"modified":"2026-04-29T01:24:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T01:24:10","slug":"bill-introduced-to-abolish-patronising-and-paternalistic-three-day-abortion-wait-period-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/422587\/","title":{"rendered":"Bill introduced to abolish \u2018patronising and paternalistic\u2019 three-day abortion wait period \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pregnant women would no longer have to undergo a \u201cpatronising and paternalistic\u201d three-day wait between attending a doctor and getting an abortion<\/a> under legislation proposed by the Social Democrats<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The party wants the Government to amend the Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act 2018, removing the mandatory three-day \u201ccooling off\u201d period, which the party says is \u201cpatronising and paternalistic\u201d and lacks a \u201cscientific basis\u201d. <\/p>\n

The current law allows termination without restriction up to 12 weeks of pregnancy once a three-day waiting period has passed between a first and second consultation. It can also be carried out in cases where there is a risk to the life, or serious harm to the health, of a pregnant woman and where a foetus is likely to die before or within 28 days of birth.<\/p>\n

Introducing the Reproductive Rights (Amendment) Bill 2026 in the D\u00e1il on Tuesday, Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns<\/a> said doctors are left with no choice but to \u201cforce women to travel abroad\u201d for terminations in cases of fatal foetal abnormality as they must be certain a foetus will die within 28 days of birth in order to provide an abortion. Her party says it is very difficult for doctors to determine with such specificity when a foetus is likely to die.<\/p>\n

Her party\u2019s Bill would remove the reference to 28 days, replacing it with a statement that there is a \u201cfatal condition affecting the foetus\u201d. It would also compel the Minister for Health to introduce guidelines clarifying when a termination can be offered where there is a risk to the life or health of the mother.<\/p>\n

Cairns said doctors are left to navigate a grey area \u201cwith the threat of criminal prosecution hanging over them, which results in overly cautious and risk-adverse decision-making and a tendency towards refusing to provide care\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no other area of healthcare where practitioners are exposed to criminal liability if things go wrong,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin<\/a> said the Government is committed to ensuring there is \u201csafe and equitable access\u201d to abortion services. He said services for terminations of up to 12 weeks\u2019 gestation are now provided in all 19 maternity hospitals. There are now 491 community providers following a \u201csustained increase\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n

The Taoiseach said there is a \u201cbroad spectrum of sincerely held opinion on the issue of legislative change\u201d, so proposals of this nature \u201crequire careful consideration\u201d.<\/p>\n

In a statement, Senator Sarah O\u2019Reilly, of pro-life party Aont\u00fa<\/a>, said the three-day wait provides a \u201cvital space for reflection at a time of immense pressure and vulnerability\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe reality is that some women are unsure, some feel overwhelmed, and some feel they have no real alternative. That short pause can be the only moment they have to breathe, to think, and to reconsider,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Also in the Bill is a new subsection to exempt medical practitioners from section 23 of the 2018 Act, which makes it an offence for a person to \u201cintentionally end the life of a foetus otherwise than in accordance\u201d with the Act.<\/p>\n

A practitioner\u2019s right to \u201cconscientious objection\u201d to performing an abortion would be qualified by the insertion of a new subsection saying this \u201cdoes not override a medical practitioner, nurse or midwife\u2019s professional and legal duty to provide prompt and appropriate medical assistance to any person in a medical emergency\u201d. <\/p>\n

The party says its Bill seeks to enact the recommendations of barrister Marie O\u2018Shea\u2019s report from three years ago. <\/p>\n

Among O\u2019Shea\u2019s findings was that there was no restriction on healthcare workers who abuse their right to conscientiously object by actively obstructing or delaying a woman\u2019s access to care by providing misleading information. <\/p>\n

O\u2019Shea found there was a lack of clarity around abortion where there is a risk to the life or health of a woman and in fatal foetal abnormality cases, save where they are straightforward. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pregnant women would no longer have to undergo a \u201cpatronising and paternalistic\u201d three-day wait between attending a doctor…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":422588,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2121,12891,16253,15049,21010,61,60,1843,43,1419],"class_list":["post-422587","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-womens-health","tag-abortion","tag-aontu","tag-dail-eireann","tag-holly-cairns","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-micheal-martin","tag-news","tag-social-democrats"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422587","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=422587"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422587\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/422588"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=422587"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=422587"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=422587"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}