In January 2026, three TDs[1] in Dáil Eireann (the lower House in the Irish parliament) – Ruth Coppinger, Paul Murphy and Richard Boyd Barrett – raised a new Private Member’s Bill: the Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) (Amendment) Bill 2026. The Bill proposes to delete subsections (3), (4) and (5) from section 12 of the Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act 2018. These sections mandate a 3-day waiting period for abortion seekers requesting an abortion in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. It would also remove the denotation of ‘12 weeks of pregnancy’ as being calculated from the ‘first day of a woman’s last menstrual period’. The overarching goal of this Bill is to remove the medically unnecessary, stigmatising mandatory waiting period. The 2026 Bill is not the first time that legislators outside of the government parties have attempted to reform the law through pro-choice alligned Private Member’s Bills. It is the fourth. Two of the previous attempts lapsed[2] and one was withdrawn. Despite these Bills not becoming law, the persistence of these TDs and Senators[3] introducing these Bills served an important purpose. The Bills keep the shortcomings in abortion care on the government agenda. They also draw scrutiny to political aspects of lawmaking as the media report on these attempts and parliamentary debates. In one case – safe access zones – the government eventually introduced and passed their own Act, despite their intention to do so wavering post-2018.
What did the Bills attempt to do?
The first attempt to hold the government to account for undertakings made in 2018 (when the Irish laws on abortion changed) was the Safe Access to Termination of Pregnancy Services Bill 2021. 15 cross-party and independent Senators introduced it. The Bill was drafted by Together for Safety, a group campaigning for legislation to protect abortion access from protests taking place outside of providers. Part of the strategy behind introducing this legislation was that the government had initially promised to introduce safe access zones in 2018. They did not do so as part of the 2018 Act, however, as they claimed there were legal issues to be resolved around rights to protest, assembly and speech.[4] The plan was to legislate in 2019, but this did not happen.[5] The government claimed that these rights issues endured through the provisions of the 2021 Bill.[6] However, they did not oppose the Bill and it progressed through the Seanad to the final and report stages. This meant that debate could take place over three stages. The Bill ultimately lapsed with the dissolution of the Dáil in November 2024.
The Bill was not a waste of time, however. Its introduction put pressure on the government and highlighted the protracted, slow fulfilment of their initial 2018 promise to legislate. In the debate on the 2021 Bill, the then Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly stated that, ‘I want this [a government Bill] to be expedited and I have made this clear to my officials’.[7] Secondly, the Bill allowed for a reconfirmation of commitment to abortion access in Ireland, unencumbered by protests or ‘sidewalk’ counselling attempts. Donnelly said of the Bill, ‘I am fully supportive of the spirit and the intent of the Bill being debated this evening. I do not intend to oppose it’. This signalled that there was cross-party solidarity on the issue of safe access zones. Legislation would be brought forward; the main disagreement was over the provisions. Indeed, Donnelly did introduce a government draft in 2023 and the Health (Termination of Pregnancy Services) (Safe Access Zones) Act 2024 is now law.
The first attempt to reform the 2018 Act from a pro-choice perspective was the Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) (Amendment) Bill 2022. It was an ambitious Bill that sought to rectify a range of access deficiencies in the 2018 Act. It proposed to delete the non-viability threshold for an abortion on the ground of a risk to the life or serious harm to health of the pregnant woman, to change the ‘28 day’ criteria for an abortion on the grounds of predicted foetal death to ‘one year of birth’, to expand abortion on request to foetal viability, to remove the mandatory waiting period, to remove the calculation of gestation based on the first day of a woman’s last period and to decriminalise abortion for those who provided an abortion or who assisted a person to access an abortion outside of the requirements of the 2018 Act.[8] The contents of this Bill should not have been surprising to the government as the provisions were all based on criticisms of the 2018 Act during parliamentary debates. Beginning in the Dáil, the Bill did not make it to Second Stage as it was withdrawn for strategic reasons to add another sponsor as part of building parliamentary support.[9]
The Bill returned in the form of the Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) (Amendment) Bill 2023. The provisions were the same as the 2022 Bill, with an additional TD added to the list of introducers. The government did not oppose the Bill, and it moved to Second Stage, though it lapsed before it could be examined at Committee Stage. Regardless, the Bill served important political functions. It showed that the government were not in a rush to introduce legislative change. Donnelly even tabled an amendment that would delay moving on from Second Stage for 12 additional months. His rationale was that it would allow the Joint Committee on Health to fully consider the recommendations made in The Independent Review of the Operation of the Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act 2018. This was despite him also claiming that ‘If we do a line-by-line comparison with the proposals in the Bill and the recommendations in the report, the Bill before us does not reflect the recommendations in the report.’[10] Later in the media, he claimed that the Bill went ‘miles beyond what people voted for in repealing the Eighth’ when they voted for change in 2018. Therefore, he argued, it would not be respecting the democratic mandate of the 2018 referendum to implement the Bill in this form.[11] His comments signalled that the government would be engaging with the Review in a more conservative way, focusing on operations under the existing legal framework. This has since borne out. In December 2025, Deputy Paul Murphy introduced an order to restore the Bill.[12] This was rejected by 73 votes to 71.[13]
Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) (Amendment) Bill 2026
As described in the first paragraph, the Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) (Amendment) Bill 2026 is much more limited than the 2022 and 2023 Bills. If the current government are committed to evidence-based lawmaking, the proposal to remove the mandatory waiting period should not be an issue. The WHO, for example, recommends against mandatory waiting periods as they create barriers to abortion access and are not compatible with rights-respecting care.[14] In addition, if the government is committed to minimising barriers to abortion access, they should accept that the mandatory waiting period should be abolished. Data from the Abortion Support Network,[15] Abortion Rights Campaign,[16] and the UnPAC study[17] show that the waiting period is not only psychologically, physically and logistically burdensome for abortion seekers, but in some cases, it pushed people over the 12-week limit for abortion on request.
However, Coppinger remarked that the ‘demeanour’ of the current Minister for Health, Jennifer Carroll MacNeill, seemed less than enthusiastic at the introduction of the Bill.[18] Even if this interpretation of reticence is accurate and indicative of a government intention to retain the waiting period, it is still strategically advantageous – not futile – to have this Bill progressing to Second Stage. Firstly, it provided an opportunity to demonstrate that there were divergent opinions within the government. For example, Carroll MacNeill, responding to Coppinger, highlighted that she had actually voted in favour of restoring the 2023 Bill. As did some other government ministers: Jack Chambers, Helen McEntee, and James Lawless.[19] Carroll MacNeill said she did so to enable ‘freedom of speech and debate’ but also because she ‘might agree’ with some of the provisions in the 2023 Bill.[20] This 2026 Bill may help to tease out where those areas of agreement lie and can provide a space in which cross-party support for reform can be bolstered. This latter point is important as when abortion is seen as a matter of conscience (i.e., when legislators are not held to any ‘whip’ position) there is a free vote. This was the case with the 2023 Bill, hence the divergent government positions.[21]
In addition to this strategic move within the Oireachtas, the media has reported widely on the 2026 Bill, spreading the message that the mandatory waiting period was a political intervention not a medical or legal necessity.[22] Furthermore, by focusing on the waiting period alone, it reduces the legitimacy of government claims that it goes beyond what the public wanted when they voted for reform as there was a lot of push-back on this provision when it was included in the 2018 Act. By not having decriminalisation or changes to grounds or gestational limits in the Bill, it will require the government to justify retaining the waiting period in the face of authoritative Irish and international viewpoints against this form of intrusion into the care process. Lastly, it may also require the government to explain why it is taking so long to action legislative change despite the findings of the Review being approved of by a majority of the Joint Committee on Health in 2023 and referred to a Cabinet committee on health in 2024.[23] The latest word before I finalised this piece on this matter came from the Taoiseach Micheál Martin. He said on the 4th March 2026, ‘The Government will examine the review, and we will revert to the House once that examination takes place. I will consult with the Minister for Health in that regard.’[24] The 2026 Bill will keep abortion access on the agenda as these reviews of the Review rumble on.
For those with an interest in abortion lawmaking the progression of this 2026 Bill will be one to watch. Especially as reform of abortion legislation was not included in the 2025 Programme for Government.[25] If the current Minister for Health is open to having the discussion about the need for reform, this new Bill can provide a space in which this can happen.
[1] TDs are the equivalent of MPs in Ireland.
[2] There was a vote on restoration on one of these Bills as I discuss below.
[3] Senators are members of the Seanad, the upper house of the Irish parliament.
[4] Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly, Seanad Éireann Debate, 10 November 2021, vol 280, no 2 < https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/seanad/2021-11-10/15/ > accessed 5 March 2026.
[5] Minister for Heath Simon Harris, Seanad Éireann Debate, 6 December, vol 262, no 1 2018 < https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/seanad/2018-12-06/13/ > accessed 5 March 2026.
[6] Donnelly (n 3).
[7] Donnelly (n 3).
[8] Section 24 (Offences by body corporate) were not included in the Bill for amendment.
[9] Confirmed with the office of Richard Boyd Barrett, TD.
[10] Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly, Dáil Eireann debate, 25 May 2023, vol 1039, no 2 < https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/dail/2023-05-25/43/ > accessed 5 March 2026.
[11] Stains M, ‘Abortion Bill ‘goes miles beyond what people voted for’ – Donnelly’ Newstalk (Dublin, 2 June 2023) < https://www.newstalk.com/news/abortion-bill-goes-miles-beyond-what-people-voted-for-donnelly-1471396 > accessed 5 March 2026.
[12] Dáil Éireann debate, 16 December 2025, vol 1078, no 1 < https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/dail/2025-12-16/8/ > accessed 5 March 2026.
[13] Dáil Éireann debate, 17 December 2025, vol 1078, no 2 < https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/dail/2025-12-17/26/ > accessed 5 March 2026.
[14] WHO, Abortion Care Guideline (2nd ed 2025) 41-41 < https://iris.who.int/server/api/core/bitstreams/dd3d3a9c-6446-4e79-a43c-093a41df46bd/content > accessed 5 March 2023.
[15] Abortion Support Network, Report of the Trustees and Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31 December 2020 for Abortion Support Network (2021) 7 < https://www.asn.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Abortion-Support-Network-final-signed-accounts-2020.pdf > accessed 5 March 2026.
[16] Abortion Support Network and Grimes L, Too Many Barriers: Experience of Abortion in Ireland After Repeal (2021) < https://www.abortionrightscampaign.ie/facts/research/ > accessed 5 March 2026.
[17] Conlon C, Antosik-Parsons K, Butler É, Unplanned Pregnancy and Abortion Care (UnPAC) Study (2022) < https://pregnancyandinfantloss.ie/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/unpac-Conlon-HSE-22.pdf > accessed 5 March 2026.
[18] Ruth Coppinger, ‘Today I moved my bill at first stage to abolish the three day wait for abortion’ (Facebook 29 January 2026) < https://www.facebook.com/RuthCoppingerSP/videos/today-i-moved-my-bill-at-first-stage-to-abolish-the-three-day-wait-for-abortion-/1644747963550663/ > 5 March 2026.
[19] (n 12).
[20] Dáil Éireann debate, 22 January, vol 1079, no 3 < https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/dail/2026-01-22/9/ > accessed 5 March 2026.
[21] O’Halloran M, ‘Dáil votes by narrow margin not to restore abortion Bill that ends three-day wait for termination’ The Irish Times (Dublin 17 December 2025) < https://www.irishtimes.com/politics/2025/12/17/dail-votes-by-narrow-margin-not-to-restore-abortion-bill-that-ends-three-day-wait-for-termination/ > accessed 5 March 2026.
[22] https://www.irishtimes.com/politics/oireachtas/2026/01/29/you-can-buy-viagra-over-the-counter-bill-to-abolish-three-day-abortion-wait-introduced/
[23] Joint Committee on Health, Joint Committee on Health Report on the Independent Review of the Operation of the Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act 2018 (Oireachtas 2023) < https://data.oireachtas.ie/ie/oireachtas/committee/dail/33/joint_committee_on_health/reports/2023/2023-12-15_report-on-the-independent-review-of-the-operation-of-the-health-regulation-of-termination-of-pregnancy-act-2018_en.pdf > accessed 5 March 2026; Minister of State at the Department of Health Colum Burke, Seanad Éireann debate, 16 April 2024, vol 299, no 12 < https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/seanad/2024-04-16/3/ > accessed 5 March 2026.
[24] The Taoiseach Micheál Martin, Dáil Éireann debate, 4 March 2026 < https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/dail/2026-03-04/11/ > accessed 5 March 2026.
[25] Programme for Government 2025: Securing Ireland’s Future < https://www.finegael.ie/programme-for-government-2025/ > accessed 5 March 2026.