Abortion law review publication
Deputy Bríd Smith asked when the review of abortion legislation would be published and said women still travel to Britain for care. The Taoiseach said the Minister for Health had the report, agreed it should be published soon, and said he would not delay it much further.
As today is 1 March, the Minister for Health should by now have the final report of the review of abortion legislation. This review was to look at the evidence of the operation of the Act. This evidence was collected from women who use the service and health professionals who provide it. We know from research carried out by the National Women's Council of Ireland and others that women still have to travel to Britain to receive abortion care, which defies the whole basis of what we attempted to do in repealing the eighth amendment. We need to know, from the Minister, the timeline for publication of the review. We have a timeline indicating he was to receive the final report from Ms Marie O'Shea by yesterday, but there is no timeline for its publication. This review was triggered on 1 January 2021, which was three years after the legislation came in. We are now getting a little worried about what will happen to women who continually have to travel abroad to receive abortion care.
Comment on this
I could be wrong but my understanding is the Minister for Health has the report. It has not yet been shared with me or the Government. If the Minister has it, he is obviously giving it consideration but we will not delay it much further. I agree it is important the report is published as soon as possible.
Comment on this
Could the Taoiseach press him to give us a timeline for publication of the review? He has never given that to us.