Bríd Smith moves bill to decriminalise abortion, end 3-day wait
Bríd Smith moved the Health Termination of Pregnancy Amendment Bill, calling for full decriminalisation of abortion, the abolition of the three-day waiting period, removal of the 12-week gestational limit and extended provision for fatal foetal anomaly. She criticised the Minister for Health for not publishing the abortion review in time for the Dáil debate and urged cross‑party support.
Bill summary
The bill seeks to treat abortion as a health issue, aiming for full decriminalisation in line with World Health Organisation guidelines. It would abolish the mandatory three-day waiting period, remove the 12-week gestational limit and extend the fatal foetal anomaly provision from 28 days to a year, while allowing abortion where there is a risk to the life and health of the woman.
Reasons and historical context
The speaker framed the bill as the unfinished business of the 2018 repeal movement and invoked cases that had driven public campaigning, naming Savita Halapanabar and Miss X. She argued the legislation should honour the referendum result by ensuring abortion is treated like other medical procedures and not as a criminal matter.
Evidence and public consultation
Citing research by the National Women's Council, the speaker noted that 71 per cent agreed abortion should be treated like any other medical procedure and not be criminalised. She said the three-day waiting period has no medical evidence to support it, was not recommended by the Citizens' Assembly or the Joint Committee on the Eighth Amendment and was inserted by Cabinet.
Impact of the waiting period and access barriers
The speech described the three-day wait as adding stress and anxiety and as patronising, unnecessary and demeaning for people seeking care. The speaker highlighted practical barriers - difficulty finding a GP, travel, time off work - and said the bill rejects the ongoing trauma imposed on women required to travel for care.
Fatal foetal anomaly and travel for care
The speaker called the situation of people forced to travel for fatal foetal anomaly cases heartbreaking and said many women must travel abroad to access care. The bill would provide abortion on request for fatal foetal anomaly and extend the window for provision to include cases likely to lead to fetal death either before or within a year.
Parliamentary process and next steps
The speaker criticised the Minister for Health for not publishing the abortion review before the Dáil considered the bill and described that omission as shameful. She recommended the bill to the House and said she looked forward to cross‑party support when the evidence from those with lived experience is made public.
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Goer maagodt i Laskiaan Coerle. Today I move the Health Termination of Pregnancy Amendment Bill. This really is the unfinished business of the great repeal movement that in 2018 challenged and won a historic referendum to give women the right to choose, the right to choose what to do with their bodies and their reproductive health. In moving this bill, I want to remember those whose cases propelled many people in this country into action and into campaigning and fighting for that right to choose. Savita Halapanabar and Miss X are both in a litany of names and numbers that became synonymous with a cruel and punishing Ireland for women. This bill, like the repeal movement, insists that abortion is a health issue. This bill believes that the vast majority of people in this country, like the vast majority of people in this country, that someone who needs abortion care should never ever have to travel abroad for such care. And again, like the majority of people in this country, it aims to ensure that abortion is treated like other medical procedures and never a matter for criminal law. It aims to achieve full decriminalisation of abortion in line with the World Health Organisation guidelines and it will see the removal of the mandatory three-day waiting period and the removal of the 12-week gestational limit. Abortion is a health issue for women and the insertion of the three-day waiting period is a way of saying to women this decision of yours, this decision to do what you want with your own body must be questioned. The health care you are seeking and assessing is somehow different to other aspects of your health and we are going to place obstacles and hurdles in your way. That suggests that there is something wrong with that choice and we totally reject that. And we reject the burden that it places on women. We know that in many places accessing abortion care in this country, seeing a GP who will treat you is difficult, if not impossible, in many parts of this island. And the idea that when you get an appointment and you have travelled and taken time off work, etc., that you must go away, think about it, consider your choice and make your way back again for the treatment that you are entitled to. And this bill rejects that continuing heartbreak and trauma that we are putting women through for a fatal foetal anomaly. So two out of every women who need abortion care because of fatal foetal anomaly have to travel. There is a lot of research done by the National Women's Council and I just want to, before I summarise, just quote some of it. That research showed that two weeks before the close of a public consultation, which, by the way, we still have not had the review published and we are about to close the Dáil today. I think it is pretty shameful that the Minister for Health has not published the abortion review in time for this Dáil to consider it. It showed that 71 per cent agreed that abortion should be treated like any other medical procedure and should never be a matter for criminal law. The research also showed that it was absolutely critical that the government should listen to the lived experience of those who are accessing abortion care and recognise the barriers that are put in front of them and take forward evidence that is based on recommendations from people. There is no evidence to support the three day waiting period. No medical evidence. It was not recommended by the Citizens Assembly and it was not recommended by the Joint Committee on the Eighth Amendment. It was inserted there by the Cabinet. Research also shows that the overwhelming majority of people who have had to wait for the three days found it added stress and anxiety to their physical and mental health. They described the wait as ridiculous, patronising, unnecessary and demeaning. The last point to make is the question of fatal foetal anomaly. It is heartbreaking to see the hundreds of women that have had to travel to Britain since the law was introduced following repeal. It is absolutely heartbreaking and in most cases it is because medical practitioners cannot say for certain that a fetus born with fatal foetal anomaly will not live beyond the 28 days. So this bill will extend that to a year from 28 days. The details are in the bill but just to summarise it will provide abortion on request for fatal foetal anomaly, abolish the three day waiting period and it will provide proportion on grounds that are likely to lead to the death of the fetus either before or within a year and it will allow for abortion where there is a risk to the life and health of the woman and decriminalise entirely the provision of abortion. So I want to recommend this to the House to move it and I look forward to cross-party support because I think we will find when the review is published and again just to say shame on the Minister for not doing so before today, we will find that the evidence based on those who have experienced abortion care in this country is quite shocking compared to what repeal the aid stood for, what the people in this country heroically voted for and what Savita and the other women I mentioned went through and in whose name we passed the referendum to repeal the aid.
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