Ms Marie O'Shea:

The predominantly method of abortion in Ireland under all sections of the Act is a medical abortion, where a person is given mifepristone, a hormonal drug which actively terminates the pregnancy, followed by misoprostol, which is a drug to eliminate the products of pregnancy. The Act stipulates in lines 10 and 11 that a termination has to be carried out by an obstetrician. That is not any doctor. It cannot be done by a non-consultant hospital doctor, NCHD. It must be done by a consultant. That is one barrier. There is difficulty recruiting consultants in some areas.

We note that for multifaceted reasons there are difficulties in the geographic coverage of GPs. The WHO would say very clearly that it should not be confined to the medical profession. Certainly in a hospital setting, why could a junior doctor, midwife or nurse not give mifepristone to a patient? Why even in a GP setting could the practice nurse not give the person mifepristone? It might get a bit more complicated if we took it out to pharmacies. They already dispense the morning-after pill. It could certainly be broadened out to take pressure off the medical profession quite safely.