Overview
- Mary Lou McDonald announced Sinn Féin will table the bill in the Dáil on Tuesday with a vote planned the following night.
- Under current law there is a mandatory three-day waiting period between two GP consultations before an early-pregnancy termination can proceed.
- Sinn Féin argues the wait blocks care for people who cannot get a local GP and has harmed women facing domestic violence or sexual assault.
- The move follows last month’s defeat of the Social Democrats’ Reproductive Rights Amendment Bill, which lost in the Dáil by 85 votes to 30 and had sought broader changes.
- Passage now depends on how TDs vote with Sinn Féin expressing confidence while the Catholic Bishops and other opponents warn against widening the law.