In 2018, the people voted in a historic referendum to appeal the eighth amendment and to remove legal barriers preventing women from exercising choice over their own pregnancies. This Bill is about respecting and trusting women in exercising that choice to access the care they need when they need it. It is about recognising that women do not take this decision lightly, that this is something they consider deeply and that they do not need the State or politicians to force them to wait for longer, as if they cannot be trusted to make decisions about their own pregnancies for themselves in their own time. This is a straightforward and targeted Bill. It does just one thing. It proposes to remove the mandatory three-day wait for access to an abortion during early pregnancy. It does this by deleting section 12(3) and by amending section 12(4) to remove the requirement for three days to have elapsed before a termination can be carried out. It does not require an abortion to happen on the day of a first consultation but when a woman is certain that this is what she wants, it allows her to make that decision for herself in her own time about her own pregnancy without a mandatory delay. I am open to working across the House on an amendment to clarify this further in the Bill, and I hope to do so. I understand there may be a number of technical amendments needed by Government if and when this Bill goes to Committee Stage. Under the current law, when a woman attends a doctor seeking a termination of pregnancy within the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, the doctor must certify that it has been fewer than 12 weeks since the end of the pregnant woman's last period. A woman must then wait for at least three days before the doctor can carry out the procedure. The termination cannot happen at all if a woman subsequently times out of the 12-week period due to the mandatory delay. Instead, our Bill allows the termination to take place as soon as may be desired by the woman in her own time. This allows women who have made up their mind to access care when they seek it and still allows time for reflection for a woman who still needs time to think about this decision. This is important because the clear feedback from women is that they were bring pushed beyond the 12-week threshold by the three-day mandatory wait or were unable to secure a second appointment on time, which denied them their choice to end a pregnancy. Sinn Féin has always been clear and consistent that we did not approve of the mandatory waiting period; that it puts women in difficult positions; and that it is not compassionate to women who have suffered rape or sexual assault, to women who learn of their pregnancy late or to women who are subject to controlling or abusing partners and for whom that first appointment may be the only appointment they get. The three-day wait was examined as part of the review of the operation of the Act. Its removal is one of the clearest recommendations arising from that process. We recognise in law and in policy that women should have access to abortion services on the basis of their own choice. This was the compassionate position put before the people in 2018 and it is the basis on which services have been provided since. The question before us now is whether the State should continue to impose an arbitrary delay after a woman has already made her decision and presented to a doctor. I do not believe that it should. This waiting period does not provide care. It does not provide support. It does not make any service safer. It simply makes access harder, especially for those who can least afford delay. It can create real difficulty for women: for women who have travelled for long distances; for women arranging time off work or childcare; for women in crisis; and for women living with coercive, controlling partners, or domestic violence. For many women, having to return days later is not a small inconvenience but it can be a very serious barrier and has been identified as such. Removing the mandatory waiting period does not mean that the termination must take place on the first day. It does not remove a woman's ability to take more time if she wants to and in those circumstances she should and she must be supported. What this Bill does is remove the requirement that the State must force every woman to wait, regardless of her circumstances, her decision, her health or her needs. This Bill clearly sets out the Sinn Féin policy that was endorsed at our Ard-Fheis earlier this year. This Bill strikes the right balance. It is the right change to make. It is overdue. It respects women's decisions. It removes an unnecessary barrier to care. There are many other issues that these Houses should and must work through, arising from the review of the Act. I commend this Bill to the House.

Sentiment score: 0.04

Hear, hear.

Sentiment score: 0.00

Compassion and respect has always underpinned my approach to this issue. Like the Minister of State, I campaigned for repeal. I knocked on doors and I argued, debated, listened, agreed and disagreed. In fact, some of the best exchanges I had were with people I disagreed with because they sharpened my awareness of the complexity of this issue and the fact that people come at it differently. At every single door I knocked on where I disagreed, I respected the opinion of the person who made an alternative argument. At the end of the day, the people voted in overwhelming numbers for change and for abortion services in certain circumstances. In that spirit, I have to say that some of the claims made today by some TDs in this Chamber are just factually wrong. Some people say that the HSE data indicate that 10,000 children are alive today because of the three-day wait. That is simply not fact and simply not the case. Nowhere in any publication or in any parliamentary question response does it say it that. There are conflation of data and a misunderstanding of actually what the HSE was saying. People know that and it needs to be put on the record. Equally, I want to deal with the other issues that people raised suggesting that this legislation does not go far enough and that there are other recommendations in the review, as there were. One of those was on the grounds of fatal foetal abnormalities. Actually, the author of the independent report recommended that there would be an expert-led stakeholder review of that particular issue to look at the wording and to come back with recommendations for legislators. I believe that whatever changes we make have to be right. There cannot be any unintended consequences which is why I am grateful that the Minister and the Government are making resources available for me to be able to perfect the Bill which is before us. I believe it will pass and if it does pass, I want to make sure that it goes to Committee Stage and ultimately passes. I agree that other issues have to be dealt with. I ask the Minister for Health to set up that review panel to look at those other issues, make recommendations and then let us evaluate them on their merits with the independent data that we have. I thank all Deputies who have spoken with respect and in the spirit of co-operation, listening and engaging. I respect all the different opinions which have been raised and I will ignore all the political charges that were made against my party and will not respond to them because I think this is about moving forward and making sure that what we voted for is what women get. For me that is the most important part of this legislation and this debate.

Sentiment score: 0.18