Will repealing the eighth mean abortion will become legal up until six months gestation?
In short, no.
As recommended by the Citizen’s Assembly and further agreed upon by the Oireachtas Committee, abortion should be available up until 12 weeks gestation “without specific indication.”
Should the eighth amendment be repealed, the government will then be free to legislate accordingly.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar recently stated that a 72 hour “period of reflection” would be put in place should the upcoming referendum pass.
This means that if a woman were to decide that she wants an abortion, she must wait three days before she is permitted to procure one.
A Yes vote does not mean there will be no restrictions. There will be a waiting period of 72 hours for reflection & counselling. Terminations beyond 12 weeks will remain illegal except in very specific circumstances. Late term abortions will be illegal. #VoteYes #Together4Yes pic.twitter.com/Fbk3qhfLaS
— Leo Varadkar (@LeoVaradkar) April 21, 2018
Taoiseach Varadkar said that counselling would be provided during this time.
Post-abortion counselling is currently available free-of-charge through the HSE.
After 12 weeks, abortion without specific indication will be illegal, however terminations may still be carried out by doctors in very specific circumstances.
There would be a ban on late term abortions. Abortions where the foetus has reached viability will not be permitted.
The Oireachtas Committee decided last year that if the eighth amendment is repealed, abortion after 12 weeks would be permitted in cases of fatal foetal abnormality.
However, unlike the recommendation of the Citizen’s Assembly before it, this would only include fatal abnormalities and not those that allow the baby to survive outside of the womb.
Taoiseach Varadkar has stated that “late term abortions” will remain illegal in Ireland.
The exact medical definition of a late term abortion is not defined, however the phrase generally tends to refer to the induced ending of a pregnancy after 20 weeks.
In England and Wales in 2012, just 2 percent of abortions carried out occurred after 20 weeks gestation.
An Irish Times article also revealed that women travelling from Ireland to England and Wales are more likely to procure abortions after 16 weeks than women who haven’t travelled.
77 percent of English and Welsh residents who terminated pregnancies did so in the first nine weeks compared to the 68 percent of Irish women who had travelled for the procedure.
Similarly, multiple studies have shown that the main reason women need late term abortions is because of the difficulties they faced in trying to procure a termination earlier.
A 1980’s study of women in America showed that 48 percent of people who had a late term abortion couldn’t make arrangements before this time.
Another study from the Guttmacher Institute also showed that most women who seek abortions at later stages do so because they didn’t have the option for an earlier one – whether this be due to financial issues or the ages of the women.
You can follow the rest of the ‘Fact or Fiction?’ series here.
