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The Sinn Féin bill united both opposition and some government TDs last night on what has historically been a divisive topic.
The Taoiseach and Tánaiste’s support for the proposal has set them at odds with the majority of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael TDs, who voted no last night.
When the Eighth Amendment was repealed in 2018, the new legislation stipulated that women who chose to have an abortion in Ireland would be made to wait three days between their GP consultation and the termination.
It was thought that some women may change their mind in this timeframe. However, there is no comprehensive data on how many have.
Some 86 TDs voted in favour of scrapping this rule and 70 voted against.
Opening the debate on Wednesday, Sinn Féin TD David Cullinane described the legislation as a “straightforward and targeted bill” that would do just one thing: remove the mandatory three-day waiting period before an abortion can take place during early pregnancy.
He said the proposal would not require an abortion to take place on the day of a first consultation, but would instead allow a woman to make the decision in her own time without a legally mandated delay.
“When a woman is certain that this is what she wants, it allows her to make that decision for herself in her own time about her own pregnancy without a mandatory delay,” Cullinane said.
Having passed second stage in the Dáil, the bill will now proceed to Committee Stage, where TDs will examine the legislation in detail and can propose amendments.
If approved at committee stage, it will return to the Dáil for report and final stages before moving to the Seanad, where it must go through a similar legislative process.
If both houses of the Oireachtas approve the bill, it will then be sent to President Catherine Connolly to be signed into law.
Government split
Government TDs were given a free vote on the legislation as a matter of conscience, leading to significant divisions within both coalition parties.
A majority of Fianna Fáil TDs voted against the bill, including five cabinet ministers.
Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan, Minister for Social Protection Dara Calleary, Minister for Housing James Browne, Minister for Children Norma Foley and Government Chief Whip Mary Butler all opposed the proposal.
Speaking today at government buildings, O’Callaghan said he was not worried about a potential backlash from his choice.
O’Callaghan, who had campaigned for repeal, said he voted against ending the three-day wait because he considered it a carefully calibrated arrangement, set out before the referendum in 2018, and which he did “not want to start unpicking now.”
“My view is in the context of that statutory scheme that was set out,” he said.
He said he welcomed the fact that Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael allowed a free vote on the issue, and said Sinn Féin had not done so.
Thirty Fianna Fáil TDs voted against the bill, while 12 supported it and six were absent. Taoiseach Micheál Martin, Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers and Minister for Transport Darragh O’Brien were among those to vote in favour.
Fine Gael was similarly divided.
Tánaiste Simon Harris and Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill were the only cabinet ministers to back the legislation, while 23 Fine Gael TDs voted against it, including Minister for Enterprise Peter Burke and Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon.
Fine Gael currently has 38 TDs in Dáil Éireann.
Eleven of their TDs voted in favour, while four were absent.
‘Unnecessary provision’
The National Women’s Council welcomed the passing of the bill to change the “paternalistic and medically unnecessary provision”.
Corrinne Hasson, the executive director, said: “We know that women in situations of domestic abuse, women living in IPAS centres, disabled women, rural women, and women on lower incomes all face more difficulties attending two GP appointments.
“We also know that in some cases the mandatory 3-day wait timed women out of care, forcing some to travel. So it’s very welcome that this will now change.”
After the Eighth Amendment was repealed in 2018, a review, which was carried out by barrister Marie O’Shea, recommended significant changes to the new legislation.
Three years on from the review being published, none of the recommendations had been acted upon, and no expert committee group has been established to look at the review.
Scrapping the three-day waiting period was one of the recommendations.
After the general election, Simon Harris and Micheál Martin said the incoming government would consider making changes to Ireland’s abortion legislation.
A year after those remarks, the Taoiseach said the government would examine the recommendations of the review.
However, it took a bill put forward by the Social Democrats for the issue to get some political traction this year.
Sinn Féin and others did not support the Social Democrats’ bill, which included a further provision around widening access to abortions in the cases of fatal foetal abnormalities.
Current laws only allow terminations where a condition is likely to lead to the death of the foetus before birth or within 28 days after birth.