I welcome the opportunity to speak on an issue that affects women's reproductive health right across the State. I acknowledge that we have come a long way. We have a lot done but there is a lot more to be done. We are in a society now that is far more caring and considerate than the one I grew up in, but we had to fight every step of the way for what we have. From the contraception trains in the 1970s, the campaign against the eighth amendment in the 1980s, criminalisation in the 1990s, right up to the campaign for women's right to choose in the noughties, we had to fight every single step of the way. I was proud to stand with women in making the changes on many of these campaigns. The 2017 Citizens' Assembly on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution was hugely important in moving the debate on, with 64% of participants voting in favour of unrestricted access to abortion and substantial support for the 12-week gestational limit. The referendum that followed was a turning point for women in Ireland. Finally, they could access reproductive healthcare, including abortion, without being criminalised or ostracised. Unfortunately, the legislation passed by the Oireachtas imposed a three-day wait for an early-pregnancy abortion. The review of the operation of the Act was published three years ago. It highlighted serious imbalances in access to care, significant geographic variation in access to services, the underdevelopment of regional services and barriers such as the three-day wait. It is time for us to make further progress. One of the biggest barriers identified in the review was the lack of GPs providing access to early medical terminations. This creates a postcode lottery in access to care. Only 10% to 15% of GPs provide early medical termination services, which is less than ten in some counties. The review recommended a geospatial analysis of services to identify the biggest gaps. Sinn Féin supports the abolition of the mandatory three-day wait for an early-pregnancy abortion. We introduced legislation that would remove the mandatory three-day wait for access to an abortion during early pregnancy. It would represent practical and compassionate change. It puts women in a difficult position and it is not compassionate to those who suffer rape or sexual assault, those who learned of their pregnancy late or those who were subject to controlling or abusive partners for whom the first appointment may be the only appointment they can get. We are concerned by proposals in the Bill to decriminalise medical practitioners who wilfully act illegally beyond the scope of the Act. We have a long history in this country of scandals in women's healthcare. The law is the law and medical practitioners should not be given carte blanche to act outside the law.

Sentiment score: 0.09