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Thousands of women in Ireland had their babies instead of abortion after three-day waiting period

A review of Ireland’s abortion law is expected to recommend the abolition of the three-day waiting period between an initial consultation and an abortion despite the fact that thousands of  women had their babies instead of an abortion after the three-day waiting period.

When abortion was made legal in Ireland in 2019, it included a three-day waiting period between an initial consultation with a doctor and the carrying out of an abortion. The legislation also stipulated that there be a review of the law after three years.

The review began in December 2022, the results of which have not been released yet. However, media reports indicate that the review conducted by the Department of Health in Ireland will recommend the three-day waiting period be abolished. This is despite the fact that, according to the Health Service Executive, 3,951 women did not return for a second consultation after the three-day waiting period had passed.

Thousands of women decided to have their babies instead of an abortion

Eilís Mulroy, campaign manager of the Pro Life Campaign, said “Not all of these cases will have been because women changed their minds, but clearly it can be inferred that thousands of these women decided to proceed with their pregnancies”.

“[E]vidence from the first three years of the abortion law shows that the waiting period helps many women to get past any initial sense of panic, giving a window of time during which they can seek support services or help from family and friends”.

Campaigners have voiced concern about the impartiality of the review of the abortion law which has not been subject to parliamentary or public scrutiny. Mulroy says that Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly “has outsourced the handling of the review to handpicked academics, many of whom have a public history of pro-abortion campaigning. This is completely at odds with the idea of a fair and independent process”.

State funding for abortion referral service

Earlier this year, the Pro Life Campaign discovered that the state-run health service in Ireland has been spending taxpayer money on advertising its abortion referral service and paying Google to ensure that its own abortion-referral services outperform other pro-life pregnancy services that focus on offering alternatives to abortion.

In recent replies to Parliamentary Questions reported by Irish pro-life organisation the Pro Life Campaign, it has been admitted that, since the practice was made legal in Ireland in 2018, almost €1 million has been spent by the Health Service Executive (HSE) – Ireland’s publicly funded healthcare system – on advertising their abortion-referral service.

Right To Life UK spokesperson Catherine Robinson said “The evidence shows that thousands of women chose to proceed with having their baby rather than going ahead with an abortion following the three-day waiting period. This gives women a time of reflection, along with time to get support from pregnancy support services or family. The three-day waiting period should stay.”

Dear reader,

You may be surprised to learn that our 24-week abortion time limit is out of line with the majority of European Union countries, where the most common time limit for abortion on demand or on broad social grounds is 12 weeks gestation.

The latest guidance from the British Association of Perinatal Medicine enables doctors to intervene to save premature babies from 22 weeks. The latest research indicates that a significant number of babies born at 22 weeks gestation can survive outside the womb, and this number increases with proactive perinatal care.

This leaves a real contradiction in British law. In one room of a hospital, doctors could be working to save a baby born alive at 23 weeks whilst, in another room of that same hospital, a doctor could perform an abortion that would end the life of a baby at the same age.

The majority of the British population support reducing the time limit. Polling has shown that 70% of British women favour a reduction in the time limit from 24 weeks to 20 weeks or below.

Please click the button below to sign the petition to the Prime Minister, asking him to do everything in his power to reduce the abortion time limit.