By Laura Fitzgerald
On 17 June, the 34th Dáil passed legislation at second stage to get rid of the “three day wait”, or a mandatory second GP visit at least three days after an initial consultation, to access abortion pills in early pregnancy.
Introduced by Sinn Féin, the legislation passed by 86 votes to 70 and was supported by the Taoiseach and the Minister for Health who indicated an intent to progress implementation of legislation. Ink on the second stage vote was barely dry when other government TDs, who voted against it, began making comments to media outlets that they are wary of the legislation being “railroaded” through – indicating that despite the stated intent from the Minister for Health, the usual FF and FG conservatism may still block progress.
It’s important that an active demand from below continues to scrutinise the progression and implementation of the bill, so that the reality of this reform is achieved. Not only would this have a positive effect on the many women who require safe early abortions with pills, especially those for whom a second GP visit might be a significant barrier to access (for example those getting close to 12 weeks gestation, those in rural areas, those hampered in their movements by disability, illness or an abusive partner), it also would constitute a step forward at a time when abortion access is under threat around the world.
Worrying global trends
The rise of far-right and fascist movements and governments spell danger for everyone who can get pregnant. In Argentina, abortion rights were won in 2020 as a result of the mass feminist movement. Just four years later, the far-right Milei government sought to bring in legislation reversing this progress. Although unsuccessful, it’s unfortunately part of a broader trend, and the far right and Christian fundamentalists are nothing if not persistent.
Around the same time as the vote in Ireland, an anti-abortion bill passed in the upper house in South Australia. It fell in the lower house but it was the first time ever an anti-abortion bill has passed any Australian parliament. The Trump regime has signalled its plan to classify frozen embryos as “children”, paving the legal route to foetal personhood by stealth.
Nigel Farage of Reform UK has taken aim at late-term abortions in his rhetoric. As is consistent with the politics of that racist, elitist gowl, this is dreadfully cruel. Late-term abortions (after 20 weeks) constitute just 1 to 2% of abortions overall and are often to aid those in tragic situations, including pregnancies carried joyfully into the second or third trimester only for parents to be confronted with a harrowing diagnosis of fatal foetal abnormalities (FFA).
Sinn Féin’s flip flopping
In the 33rd Dáil, legislation introduced by Bríd Smith, People Before Profit, and co-signed by then Solidarity TD, Mick Barry, passed at second stage. It was a more far-reaching bill on abortion reform, getting rid of the three-day wait but also decriminalising abortion, and allowing for terminations for medical reasons without restrictions. In line with the Citizens’ Assembly recommendations, the bill passed in the last Dáil but went into abeyance as there was zero political will from FF/FG to pursue it. A routine vote in December 2025 to keep the bill on the order paper arose and was in fact voted down, including with Sinn Féin TDs abstaining, despite its deputies having voted for it in the previous Dáil.
This prompted Solidarity TD Ruth Coppinger to introduce a bill to abolish the three-day wait. Our thinking was that after such a backwards step, it was essential to respond with a demand for extending abortion rights. We chose to focus on the simple abolition of the irrefutably medically unnecessary three-day wait – such a simple proposal that it makes eminent sense, and any failure to support it shows no trust in women making decisions about their own bodies. Part of a very small socialist left coalition in the Dáil and a small technical group, Ruth had no time allocated to put the bill to second stage in the first half of 2026.
In the meantime, the Social Democrats brought in a bill taking up the three different aspects of abortion reform needed: three day wait, decriminalisation and FFA. This bill was voted down decisively at second stage, another blow. Notably, again, Sinn Féin TDs abstained. Just two weeks later, Sinn Féin introduced a three-day wait abolition bill, like Ruth’s, and moved it at second stage. Thankfully, it passed.
During the debate around the Social Democrats bill, Sinn Féin spokesperson David Cullinane’s reasoning behind the party’s abstention was galling to hear. His argument against decriminalisation of doctors carrying out abortion was mendacious. Citing an emotive question of the state’s history of women’s health scandals, he scaremongered about lifting criminal sanctions. This is poppycock. Firstly, any threat of being criminalised creates a chill factor for doctors that could render the health and life of the pregnant person less than top priority. This is potentially hazardous to women’s health given that pregnancy is always fraught with health risks.
Furthermore, Sinn Féin in its stance is participating in stigmatising abortion. By supporting abortion being encoded in criminal law, you are firmly placing it outside of normal healthcare. Abortion is one of the most common medical procedures. Other common medical procedures are decriminalised. Situating doctors’ practices around abortion under criminal law indicates it’s something other than normal and everyday healthcare. David Cullinane also indicated that he didn’t support the details of the Soc Dems’ wording on the FFA amendment. This is a puzzling argument given that bills can be amended at a later stage.
Families facing a devastating FFA diagnosis still have to travel off this island to access a termination. This is cruel beyond belief and a betrayal of the repeal and abortion rights movement. Ironically, many of the politicians in FF, FG and indeed SF, who almost exclusively spoke of FFA cases when a mass movement from below forced them to support repeal of the abortion ban, have abandoned the women affected.
Full abortion rights must be fought for
Ceding any ground to arguments that indicate that abortion is somehow controversial, wrong or a thorny issue plays into the hands of the far right / Christian right who wish to ban abortion. Everywhere abortion has been legal for decades, the misogynists start with arguments around late-term abortions, many of which are for FFA. They pose their arguments around supporting women and babies, not dissimilar to Sinn Féin’s excuse for opposing abortion decriminalisation. All of the posturing of the abortion ban reactionaries should be obliterated, and not given credence by those supporting abortion rights and bodily autonomy for those who can get pregnant.
The truth is that anti-abortion campaigners do not care if women or babies die, and this can be proven. Infant mortality in the US has increased by 7% since the 2022 Supreme Court decision overturned the constitutional right to abortion. In 2022 and 2023, the years after an abortion ban was introduced in the state of Texas, there were at least 120 in-hospital deaths of pregnant or postpartum women, an increase of dozens of deaths from a comparable period in the 2010s. Similarly, there was a 12.7 % rise in infant mortality in the same period.
The vote on Sinn Féin’s three-day wait abolition bill was also noteworthy from the point of view of the number of FF and FG politicians failing to support this minimal, if vital, abortion reform, including Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan and many women government TDs who were happy to side with bigots who don’t trust women with decisions about their own bodies and lives.
Repeal of the 8th amendment and free abortion on request up to twelve weeks was achieved by a mass feminist movement from below. The March for Choice, 26 September 2026, organised by the Abortion Rights Campaign, needs to be bigger than it’s been in years. In order to ensure that the three-day wait is abolished and that the aforementioned bill doesn’t languish in abeyance in the Dáil; in order to push for full abortion access for after twelve weeks, including to support those with tragic FFA diagnoses; and for decriminalisation, alongside demands for GP-led, informed, free trans healthcare; a massive march and an active movement is required. This would also be a retort to the Catholic right and fascists who are organising and taking aim at our rights.
