CONTRACEPTION CAN’T BE GIVEN TO UNDER-17s DUE TO LEGAL ISSUES
FREE contraception could not be offered to females under the age of consent because the Government could face legal challenges, Minister for State Mary Butler has said.
Women aged between 17 and 25 will be able to avail of free contraception from August under a new €31million women’s health package announced in Tuesday’s Budget.
Responding to queries as to why the scheme wasn’t expanded to girls younger than 17, Ms Butler said the Government could face ‘legalistic challenges’.
‘I just wanted to point out that the age of consent is actually 17. And I think we were best placed to have free contraception from the age of 17 to 25 because obviously, we could be faced with legal challenges. That is the rule of law here with the country. So I think the minister was quite right with the age he started it off with,’ Ms Butler said yesterday.
In a press conference to discuss the health budget for 2022, both Ms Butler and Health Minister Stephen Donnelly said they were not aware if advice had been sought from the Attorney General on the matter.
When questioned as to why Ireland wasn’t following the example of France, where girls under the age of 15 can access free contraception, Mr Donnelly said several reports had recommended that the starting age should be 17.
However, he said he intends to broaden out the scheme in the future.
Labour TD Ivana Bacik said that while she welcomed the Government’s pledge to provide free contraception to young women, she believed there needed to be a discussion on lowering the age of consent. ‘More broadly, I think this does raise an issue about the age of consent. I think we have to have a conversation about the statutory age of consent in Ireland,’ she said.
Ms Bacik said she believes 16 would be a ‘more realistic’ age of consent but added that she wanted to see an ‘evidence-based decision-making process’ before a change is made.