The Oireachtas Committee recommended that, should the referendum vote in favour of unrestricted abortion for up to 12 weeks, the service should be “GP-led”.
Minister for Health Simon Harris has assured that GPs will be consulted prior to any legislative decisions made regarding a GP-led abortion service in Ireland.
The Minister took to Twitter on Tuesday morning to confirm the statement, adding that “conscientious objections” will be provided for.
.@morningireland let me provide that assurance now – there will be conscientious objection provided for. Plenty of time for engagement but legislation not yet published, let alone a referendum held.
— Simon Harris TD (@SimonHarrisTD) February 6, 2018
The tweet was posted in response to a segment on RTÉ Radio One’s Morning Ireland on Tuesday morning in which chairperson of the National Association of General Practitioners (NAGP), Dr Andrew Jordan, said that the association received contact from the Minister’s office late on Monday night confirming that there will be engagement with any relevant representative bodies before any legal decisions were made.
“He has said that before any new process or any new system is put in place there will be discussions with the representative bodies,” Jordan said.
Jordan went on to explain why the NAGP published such concerns on Monday evening.
“There was a certain annoyance over the lack of any discussion taking place in advance of putting such a service in place, it was felt to be presumptive in nature,” he said.
“We want the process to proceed and we want the people to speak, but leaving that aside there are legal, ethical and practical challenges in putting such a system in place.
“We will obviously have a certain number of GPs who will be conscientious objectors. Does it have to be a GP-led system? That’s another question,” he said.
The Oireachtas Committee on the Eighth Amendment recommended that unrestricted abortion should be available up to 12 weeks of pregnancy and felt this should be achieved “through a GP-led service”.
LISTEN: You Must Be Jokin’ with Aideen McQueen – Faith healers, Coolock craic and Gigging as Gaeilge
