3 Day Wait Saves Lives
Women should not be rushed
The 3-day wait was promised to voters as a safeguard during the campaign to repeal the 8th.
We are told abortion isn’t a decision that is made lightly. So why do a majority of TDs support a Sinn Féin bill to SCRAP the 3-day wait – even though Ireland’s abortion rates have soared, with 65,000 abortions since 2019.
We know from the Department of Health that more than 10,000 women so far did not return for an abortion after the 3-day wait.
Isn't it always better to have fewer abortions?
The government held an Abortion Review but didn’t speak to ONE woman who had changed her mind during the 3-day wait. That’s pretty shocking, given that 10,000 women didn’t return after that time to think.
We’re sharing the REAL-LIFE stories of two women who sought abortion, Esme and Róisín, so that you can read what they have to say.
PLUS more than 100 doctors and healthcare professionals have said there is “no medical basis” for scrapping the 3-day wait, and added that “women deserve better than being deprived of the time to think.”
Order Leaflets today
ESME’s Story
Esme* discovered she was pregnant at an extraordinarily difficult time in her life, and says “the option of abortion was suggested and encouraged". It’s important to understand that many women seeking abortion feel panicked, afraid – and sometimes coerced or pressured.
The 3-day wait was my saving grace.
“At this time there was a three day wait which was a saving grace in my experience. I was so traumatized and did not know what to do. Deep within I knew I had the resolve and strength to continue with the pregnancy,” she says.
“I cannot imagine life without my baby. I believe that abolishing the three-day breathing space is unacceptable - and that any woman needs time to adjudicate, reflect and contemplate before making a decision that could be detrimental.”
“If the waiting period remains abolished this will be catastrophic for almost every woman [facing abortion],” she added.
RÓISÍN’s Story
Róisín* says that when she went to her doctor she was not told about the 3-day wait - and now lives with the upset that the time to think was taken away from her.
“I was denied the 3-day wait
“I literally walked in, and I did go to sit down but I didn’t sit down. He said “I might as well give you a glass of water while we’re in the middle of doing this”, so he gave me a glass of water and a tablet, and told me to take the first tablet as we were talking.”
“There was no wait, there were no three days. It wasn’t like when you go into a doctor and you’re talking about something in general, and it’s like, “OK, are you sure that this is what you want to do? Do you realise the aftermath of it? There was no feeling, no emotion.”
“If he had said to me “look, there’s a rule here, we need to wait for three days, this is your consultation, now we need to wait it out” there’s a possibility I wouldn’t have gone through with it.”
“I was suicidal after it as well,” she says. “But the aftermath of the abortion… People don't realise what you see. “You see a baby after growing. It's tiny, tiny little baby..”
“People need at least three days.
At least.”
3 days gives time to think
In July, Fianna Fáil MEP Billy Kelleher said the 3-day wait “was introduced to bring more people on to the side of supporting a
referendum" which led to abortion being legalised in Ireland.
It would be appalling if political promises made to pass the referendum were now broken and safeguards removed. Since 2019, Irish abortion numbers have soared.
That’s 65,584 abortions in just 7.5 years. Abortion in Ireland is definitely NOT ‘rare’ as was also promised in the referendum.
Perhaps they had time to think. Perhaps they found support. Isn’t that a very good reason to KEEP the 3-day wait.
Abortion numbers are soaring, keep the 3 day wait
Close to 11,000 abortions a year take place in Ireland. But in 2024 alone, some 2,200 women who went to a GP for a first abortion appointment did not return after the 3-day wait.
Other countries also have a waiting period before abortion: Belgium requires a wait of 6 days, Italy 7 days, and Germany 3 days.
TDs must listen to women and doctors
Abortion always involves a woman and an unborn baby. Yet TDs seeking to scrap the 3-day wait never mention the unborn child - and the review they rely on didn’t talk to ONE woman who changed her mind in the 3-day wait.
Why not? And why aren’t the TDs talking to the 100+ doctors and
healthcare professionals who urged that the 3-day wait be KEPT?*
Those medics said there is “no medical basis” for scrapping the 3-day wait, and added that “women deserve better than being deprived of the time to think,” The women whose stories we share agree: with one saying the 3-day wait was her “saving grace”.
