Women still being forced to travel for abortion care
Dear Sir,
In 2018, we voted to provide compassionate care for women at home. The O’Shea Review, published last year, clearly shows that serious gaps remain in abortion care, resulting in significant barriers and distress for many women, with some still being forced to travel.
Today, Leitrim for Choice, along with other civil society groups, frontline services, advocacy organisations, academics and doctors, wrote an open letter to Taoiseach, Simon Harris, to demand improvements to abortion provision in Ireland.
We are calling for the full and effective implementation of the O’Shea Review recommendations.
Changes needed include: Decriminalisation Removal of the mandatory 3-day wait
Review of the 12-week gestational limit
Action on legislation to implement Safe Access Zones
The recommendations in the Review have a robust evidence base, rooted in the lived experiences of women who have accessed abortion services in Ireland. The onus is now on Government, who commissioned this Review, to act on these recommendations and ensure Ireland’s reproductive healthcare system is aligned with international best practice and can properly meet the needs of all women and pregnant people.
The letter to Government has been signed by the following:
Orla O’Connor, Director, the National Women’s Council
Alison Spillane, Research and Policy Coordinator, Irish Family Planning Association
Richael Carroll, Co- Convener, Abortion Rights Campaign
Ailbhe Smyth, Action for Choice
Ciara McHugh, Senior Helpline Coordinator, Abortion Support Network
Maria Joyce, Coordinator, National Traveller Women’s Forum
Karen Sugrue, Co- Chair, Together for Safety
Dr Marion Dyer & Dr Mary Favier, Doctors for Choice
Stephen Bowen, Executive Director, Amnesty International Ireland
Luna Lara Liboni, Senior Policy Officer, Irish Council for Civil Liberties
Patricia Acom, Women’s Support Officer, AkiDwA
Danielle Roberts, Co-convener, Alliance for Choice
Dr Catherine Conlon, Associate Professor Social Policy, TCD
Dr Lorraine Grimes, Applied Social Studies, Maynooth University
Dr Deirdre Duffy, Senior Lecturer in Sociology (Global Social Inequalities), Lancaster University
Dr Ruth Fletcher, Reader in Medical Law, Queen Mary University of London
Dr Kate Antosik-Parsons, Post-Doctoral Research Fellow in Social Studies, TCD
Prof Fiona de Londras, Barber Professor of Jurisprudence, University of Birmingham
Dr Camilla Fitzsimons & Dr Sinéad Kennedy, Academics for Reproductive Justice
Bernie Linnane, Leitrim for Choice