{"id":643438,"date":"2026-10-03T08:26:33","date_gmt":"2026-10-03T08:26:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/643438\/"},"modified":"2026-10-03T08:26:33","modified_gmt":"2026-10-03T08:26:33","slug":"removing-three-day-wait-would-lead-to-rise-in-already-massive-number-of-abortions-gp-says-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/643438\/","title":{"rendered":"Removing three-day wait would lead to rise in \u2018already massive\u2019 number of abortions, GP says \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

There would be a \u201cfurther rise\u201d in the number of terminations in Ireland if a mandatory three-day wait<\/a> were removed, according to two anti-abortion<\/a> GPs who gave evidence against the reform to TDs and senators. <\/p>\n

Dr Andrew O\u2019Regan and Dr Kirsten Fuller were speaking in a personal capacity as citizens at the Oireachtas health committee on Wednesday. Neither O\u2019Regan nor Fuller have experience providing termination of pregnancy<\/a> services, as both conscientiously object to abortion. Both declined to say how many women had approached them seeking advice about abortion services since the new law came into effect in January 2019. <\/p>\n

During what were, at times, tense exchanges, O\u2019Regan claimed that he and Fuller had experienced \u201cattacks\u201d at the committee for their personal positions on abortion. Social Democrats TD P\u00e1draig Rice, the chair of the committee, defended the hearing and said that he did not think it was \u201cfair to say that there were attacks\u201d. \u201cIf there was, I would have intervened to prevent them.\u201d <\/p>\n

The Health (Abolition of Three Day Wait Rule) (Amendment) Bill, which Sinn F\u00e9in<\/a> introduced in May, would scrap the mandatory three-day waiting period that was included in Ireland\u2019s abortion law following the repeal of the Eighth Amendment<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Under the current law, a woman has to wait 72 hours between requesting an abortion under 12 weeks at a first appointment and accessing one at a second. The Oireachtas health committee, which is scrutinising the Bill, has previously heard evidence from the Irish College of General Practitioners<\/a> and the HSE<\/a> supporting the removal of the mandatory three-day wait. O\u2019Regan and Fuller were invited to give evidence after some Fianna F\u00e1il<\/a> and Fine Gael<\/a> TDs complained about a lack of balance. <\/p>\n

Fuller claimed that \u201celiminating the three-day wait would undoubtedly lead to a further rise in these already massive number of abortions\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know the substantive issue of abortion or abortion numbers is not part of the discussion here, but when considering the three-day wait and its possible removal, the impact this could have on the abortion rate is surely a relevant consideration in the deliberations of this committee.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe central point, as I see it, is the finality of what abortion entails. A three-day wait gives a woman a short but guaranteed space in which to consider her circumstances before proceeding, and to ensure there is genuinely informed consent in a context where many women describe themselves as experiencing shock and uncertainty.\u201d<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Three-day abortion wait hits women in \u2018straitened circumstances\u2019 hardest, HSE saysOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

O\u2019Regan claimed that it was an \u201cundeniable fact that children are alive today because of this three-day wait\u201d. He said that the number of women who were pushed beyond the 12-week limit by the three-day wait was \u201cactually a very, very small percentage\u201d. <\/p>\n

Both GPs were challenged by Fianna F\u00e1il TD Martin Daly, also a GP, who said that both witnesses had \u201cmade reflections in the general area of abortion, which we didn\u2019t really ask for today\u201d. Daly asked O\u2019Regan to confirm if he prescribes the contraceptive pill, which O\u2019Regan declined to do. Both GPs later clarified that all GP practices offer contraception. <\/p>\n

Fuller claimed the \u201cmajority\u201d of GPs don\u2019t agree that abortion is a form of healthcare. O\u2019Regan said that while he agreed that abortion is \u201clegal\u201d, \u201cwe\u2019ve made our views clear that we don\u2019t think it\u2019s necessary\u201d. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There would be a \u201cfurther rise\u201d in the number of terminations in Ireland if a mandatory three-day wait…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":643439,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[12891,17862,103,397,396,2120,61,60,48748,9386,3415],"class_list":["post-643438","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-abortion","tag-eighth-amendment","tag-health","tag-health-care","tag-healthcare","tag-hse","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-irish-college-of-general-practitioners","tag-pregnancy","tag-sinn-fein"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/643438","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=643438"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/643438\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/643439"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=643438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=643438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=643438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}