On behalf of the Social Democrats, I am delighted to welcome this Bill and say we will be supporting it. We support access to free, safe and legal abortion. We need to trust women, listen to them, provide care with compassion and remove barriers to access. There are currently too many barriers to accessing terminations in Ireland, and the three-day wait is a core part of that and needs to be removed. We are strongly in support of that. As others have said, the three-day wait is medically unnecessary and insulting to women. It is the only form of healthcare with a State-imposed delay. It is a paternalistic restriction, and we have a history of paternalistic attitudes in our healthcare service that need to be undone. It is interfering with women's ability to make decisions about their own bodies and it is having a disproportionate effect on vulnerable groups, including those experiencing domestic violence, those who have language-based access issues, those who struggle to access a GP, and many others. We are aware that the World Health Organization recommends against the provision because there is no medical evidence for it. It is beyond time that the three-day wait was gone. We are aware that there are other barriers, like people being forced to take additional days off work just in order to go back to the second appointment. Therefore, the provision is completely unnecessary and needs to go. We are also aware that there are huge issues in accessing GP services across the country. My party had a motion setting out a 20-point plan on how to improve access to GP services. Some women are forced to travel between counties to access GP services and, under the three-day wait, are forced to do that twice and at a huge personal cost. Therefore, the provision absolutely needs to be removed. Others will talk here about the number of people who change their mind or do not return for the second appointment, as the Minister of State referred to, but this is not just about people changing their minds. There are issues around having miscarriages, negative pregnancy tests, ectopic pregnancies, having gone to another doctor, having gone over time, having travelled abroad and having been pushed over the 12-week limit between the two appointments. There are many reasons people may not return to the second appointment. They may have difficulty accessing an appointment. There is an uneven distribution of services across the country and that impacts marginalised and vulnerable women in particular. The IFPA conducts an annual analysis of its services, and this is probably the most detailed qualitative data set available. It has found that 98% of its clients proceeded to access abortion care following the three-day wait. This data makes it clear that women are affirming their decisions before consulting a medical professional. The IFPA has said that standard practice regarding informed consent is that doctors encourage patients to take additional time if that is what they need, but there is no scientific support for imposing a time limit. Women will still be able to have that time to make the decision, but it just will not be enforced. It is welcome that the rule will be removed and it is welcome to hear that there is significant support across the House, including, I understand, from the Taoiseach, Tánaiste and others in government, for making this change. From the Social Democrats' perspective, we would have gone further. Our Bill a number of weeks ago would have gone further with the changes. The O'Shea report had a series of recommendations. The review was provided for in the original legislation in 2018. The O'Shea report should not be allowed to sit on a shelf and gather dust. Its recommendations should be implemented in full, and we need to make progress beyond just the three-day wait, including on decriminalisation. The arrangement is having a chilling effect on doctors, and there is the possibility of a 14-year prison sentence. We also need to make changes in terms of fatal foetal abnormality to ensure no more women have to travel abroad. That was core to the referendum. I was the secretary of Cork Together for Yes for a long time and I knocked on many doors and spoke to many women. When we were campaigning in Cork and across the country, it came up time and again that women should not have to travel abroad to access services that should be available in Ireland. Until we make all the required changes, women will continue to travel abroad, and we cannot have it. We must be brave in this Oireachtas, go further and implement those changes, particularly in respect of the 28-day limit in terms of fatal foetal abnormality. We know that, in most European countries, it is recognised that fatal foetal conditions and the length of neonatal survival are unpredictable and most other countries avoid having specific day counts. We should follow suit here. The Social Democrats would have liked to have gone further. However, I hope this Bill passes and makes progress. I hope it is enacted and put on the Statute Book. I have a concern that that is as far as this Oireachtas will go and we will be left waiting until the next Oireachtas or longer, that women will be left waiting and the political energy and capital was spent on this one change as opposed to the further and deeper reforms that are needed and are recommended in the O'Shea report, which was commissioned by the Government. I would like the Oireachtas to do more and to remove more barriers, provide expanded access and address the concerns being set out by doctors and women. I would like the Oireachtas to go further. There has been positive engagement from the Minister in working with Opposition parties on amendments and improving Bills. I wish a similar approach were adopted to Opposition legislation in other areas. I would like a more constructive approach to be adopted by the Government to matters we raise rather than rejecting them out of hand.

Sentiment score: 0.14