Three-day wait, 28-day rule and 'ground c': Why Irish women are still travelling to Britain for an abortion

On Tuesday, the statistics for 2021 were published and they revealed the number last year was at least 206.

It is a dramatic drop from the 2,879 who travelled in 2018, the last year our constitutional ban on abortion was in place.

Abortion has been legal in Ireland since 2019, with no restriction up to 12 weeks’ gestation. Beyond that, it has been available if continuing the pregnancy would pose a risk to the life or the health of the woman. Abortion is also legal in cases where there has been a diagnosis of a fatal foetal abnormality, but only where two doctors agree the condition is likely to result in the death of the infant before or within 28 days of birth.

Campaigners had argued this 28-day rule was arbitrary, and had resulted in the stigmatisation of the women and couples who still have to travel for a termination because the devastating diagnosis they have been given is not “fatal enough”.

The statistics published on Tuesday support this. Half of the 206 abortions recorded for Irish women were on grounds of a termination for medical reasons.

While the total number of Irish women still travelling abroad for an abortion has reduced, the proportion of the women still travelling who are doing so for traumatic reasons has increased.

In 2018, the percentage of women travelling for an abortion on grounds of a fatal foetal abnormality was 3pc. Now it’s 50pc.

Many who followed the 2018 referendum would argue that it was women who had had terminations for medical reasons who were put under pressure to tell the country about their traumatic pregnancies, and they were the ones credited with helping to change people’s minds.

One could certainly see how it would feel unfair that these were the same kind of women who ended up being left behind by the law that stories like theirs helped to change.

It is understood the reason the 28-day rule exists is because politicians were under pressure to clearly define the laws under which a later term abortion would be carried out, amid sensational claims from the No side that repeal would lead to terminations on grounds of disability.

Ireland’s abortion law is currently being reviewed by the Department of Health, and it is likely that opposition politicians will be putting pressure on Health Minister Stephen Donnelly to examine the fairness of the laws around terminations for medical reasons.

The other 103 terminations that Irish women travelled to England and Wales for were carried out under what’s known as “ground C” – which is the law that covers most non-medical abortions up to 24 weeks in the UK.

We don’t know the circumstances of any of these women, but it is likely they may have had to travel as their pregnancy had gone beyond the 12-week limit in Ireland. Twelve weeks is counted from the first day of a woman’s last period, not conception, so many women could easily be at least halfway to 12 weeks before they realise they are pregnant.

Ireland also imposes a mandatory three-day “waiting period” on anyone who wants an abortion up to 12 weeks.

This means if you ask your GP for an abortion on a Monday, the earliest you can access one would be Thursday.

Many have pointed out there is no medical reason for this wait and it’s likely that the government will also be put under pressure to explain the reasons for it in the review of the law.