Abortion services not yet available at Wexford Hospital
UNIVERSITY Hospital Waterford is currently the nearest hospital to Wexford offering an abortion service under new legislation introduced by the Government on January 1, although more hospitals are expected to provide a service in the near future, according to a HSE spokeswoman.
Currently, Wexford Hospital is not providing an abortion service.
The National Maternity and the Rotunda hospitals in Dublin are the nearest maternity units to North Wexford residents among a list of nine hospitals which will provide care for women who are between nine and 12 weeks pregnant, where there is a risk to life of a pregnant woman or where there is a condition likely to lead to the death of the foetus before or shortly after birth.
Otherwise, abortion services up to nine weeks will mainly be provided free of charge by general medical practitioners in their surgeries.
The new law provides for abortion in Ireland up to 12 weeks of pregnancy with women under nine weeks of pregnancy mainly looked after by a GP and thereafter in a hospital setting.
The HSE has not published a list of the GP’s across the country who have agreed to provide services but details will be provided directly to people who need it, through a new My Options helpline which can be contacted on freephone number 1800 828 010 and by visiting myoptions.ie.
‘GPs and family planning services who have signed up to provide the service are now beginning to provide care to patients who want to have an abortion,’ said the spokeswoman.
‘A lot of work has been done and is ongoing to set up services to care for women, and the HSE will provide information to women and to healthcare professionals about where and how services are available as they come on stream.’
‘Working to develop the service over recent months, we agreed an approach with GP’s whereby details of GP’s taking part in providing abortion care will not be published, but details are provided directly to people who need it through our new My Options helpline.’
‘We are satisfied that there is already a good geographic spread of GP’s taking part, enough to meet the needs of people who may need to access the service. Currently 179 GPs have signed the contract and each day more GPs are signing up, as the service evolves,’ she said.
The introduction of the service follows last year’s referendum to repeal the Eight Amendment to the Constitution which previously made abortion illegal in Ireland. Abortion care will be free to women who need it.
My Options is a free unplanned pregnancy support service which will be the first point of contact for women seeking support and information and will offer free non-directive counselling and information on all options including continued pregnancy supports and abortion services.
The My Options counselling service is being provided on behalf of the HSE by experienced pregnancy ciounsellors from One Family, a national organisation for one-parent families.