The HSE came before the Oireachtas Health Committee on Wednesday effectively campaigning for the abolition of the three-day wait, yet failed to produce a single cogent piece of evidence to support its removal.
The delegation claimed there is “no clinical requirement for a mandatory three-day waiting period.” In doing so, they sought to turn the debate into a medical and clinical one, but the reality is that the vast majority of abortions are carried out for socio-economic reasons and 98% of abortions take place under the ground where no reason for the abortion has to be given.
It is totally misleading for HSE representatives to convey the impression that they possess some special authority or insight when it comes to deciding whether the three-day wait should stay or go.
The real issue is: how many women went for their first abortion appointment and didn’t go ahead with the procedure after the three-day reflection period had elapsed?
The HSE’s own figures show that between 2019 and 2024 more than 10,000 women did not return after the three-day wait. Yet the HSE has produced no research examining the reasons why the women didn’t attend their second appointment.
This follows last week’s extraordinary ICGP appearance. The GP body advocated abolishing the three-day wait while acknowledging that it had consulted neither its 4,900 members nor the thousands of women who attended an initial abortion appointment but did not return afterwards.
Now the HSE has done essentially the same thing: advocating a major change while failing to examine the experiences of the very women most affected by it.
Women are contacting us on a daily basis saying they benefited from the three-day wait and want it retained. Yet their experiences remain conspicuously absent from the evidence being presented.
Two influential health bodies have now appeared before the Committee seeking abolition of the three-day wait. Neither has answered the most fundamental question at the heart of this debate.
This is not evidence-based policymaking. It is advocacy dressed up as evidence.