Image – Shutterstock: Leinster House in Dublin, seat of the Irish Parliament
Another attempt to water down the provisions promised to the Irish public during the 2018 abortion referendum is now underway, as legislators move to abolish the mandatory three-day waiting period for abortion.
People Before Profit has introduced legislation to the Dáil seeking to remove the waiting period entirely, with Health Minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill confirming that the Government will not oppose the Bill at first stage.
Under current law, a woman seeking an abortion must wait three days after her initial medical consultation before the procedure can take place. During the referendum campaign, this pause was presented as a modest but meaningful safeguard intended to ensure reflection in a decision involving the deliberate ending of unborn human life.
Supporters of the new Bill argue the waiting period is unnecessary and paternalistic. TD Ruth Coppinger claimed it is based on the idea that women are incapable of making serious decisions, comparing abortion to cosmetic procedures such as rhinoplasty. Advocacy groups have also pointed to statements from the World Health Organisation describing waiting periods as “medically unnecessary barriers”.
But this comparison misses the point. The waiting period was never about doubting women’s capacity for decision-making. It was an acknowledgement that abortion is not morally equivalent to elective cosmetic surgery. It was one of several assurances given to voters that abortion would remain limited, carefully regulated, and treated as exceptional rather than routine.
Scrapping the waiting period further normalises abortion as simply standard healthcare, stripped of any distinctive moral or ethical gravity. That shift sits uneasily alongside other developments in the Republic that show the Irish establishment’s desire to ignore the plight of the unborn. The Health Service Executive has refused to provide clear answers about the treatment of babies who survive abortion procedures. In response to parliamentary questions, the HSE has acknowledged that such cases occur, describing them as “rare,” while declining to explain what care is provided or whether life-preserving treatment is ever offered.
Official perinatal mortality data indicates that more than 100 babies have survived abortion procedures since the law changed in 2019.
The connection between these issues is clear. As abortion is increasingly framed as an acceptable decision and healthcare safeguards are portrayed as obstacles, uncomfortable questions about outcomes are quietly avoided.
SPUC’s Communications Manager, Peter Kearney, says, “This renewed push to remove the waiting period in Ireland is a concerning display of the slippery slop in action. A promise made to voters in 2018 that portrayed abortion as a balanced policy position is being trampled on by those who see abortion as a non-issue, or even a positive. In the eyes of the abortion industry speed and access take precedence over reflection, caution, and transparency. So, the debate over the waiting period is not an isolated policy tweak, but part of a broader retreat from any meaningful protection for unborn life. It is SPUC’s wish that the Irish people will understand that they have been duped and coalesce to end abortion.”
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