Ruth Coppinger brought forward another abortion-related bill in the Dáil yesterday, this time aimed at removing the mandatory three-day waiting period.
It follows the defeat she and party colleague Paul Murphy suffered before Christmas, when their bill to permit abortion on request up to birth was opposed by a majority of TDs from advancing to the next stage.
Seeking to bolster her latest bill, Coppinger cited in the Dáil yesterday the recommendation from the Chair of the Three Year Review of the abortion law in favour of removing the three-day wait before an abortion. Not surprisingly, Coppinger refrained from reminding the Dáil that the Chair of the Review, Ms Marie O’Shea, admitted at an Oireachtas Health Committee meeting that before making the recommendation, she never spoke of any of the thousands of women who went for their first abortion appointment but didn’t return for the second appointment three days later to proceed with the abortion.
A fortnight ago, we reported on the latest HSE reply to a Parliamentary Question showing that in 2022 and 2023, 3,933 women who went for a first abortion appointment didn’t return for a second consultation with the abortion providing doctor, after the three-day wait had elapsed. This information when added to previously released data shows that between 2019 and 2024, 10,426 women did not return after the three-day waiting period – proving the life- saving value of the three-day reflection period and why it should be retained.
While it’s shocking how much time Coppinger and others devote to expanding access to abortion, we must remain focussed and not be diverted from the task at hand: reducing abortion numbers and ensuring that any legislation designed to widen access is decisively defeated.
Ms Coppinger and her colleagues may resort to labelling pro-life advocates as “far-right” or hurling other insults, as she did yesterday in the Dáil, but such rhetoric will not deter us. If any position is extreme, it is the one that relentlessly promotes abortion and seeks to dismantle even the most limited protections that remain for unborn human life. In the coming weeks and months, this reality must be communicated clearly to members of the Oireachtas and to the public at large.
Ms. Coppinger argues there is no other medical procedure in Ireland that has a three day mandatory waiting period in law. She further backs up this proposition with the example of a rhinoplasty with its 40% regret rate or the buying of Viagra. To compare a rhinoplasty, a nose job with the taking of an innocent unborn life is both disgusting and insulting at the same time. We know of thousands of women who have changed their minds in the 3 day period in the last seven years. Therefore the 3 day mandatory period works. Even if there was only one child saved in the last seven years because of the mandatory waiting period, that child’s unique human dignity which gets to see the world is priceless and should not be dismissed.
900,000 on the waiting list, nothing but waiting periods with the HSE.