Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

A lack of access is a very real and living thing. In terms of the consultation, Dr. Henchion has clearly pointed out the issues of affordability and availability of services nationally. She has also pointed out that one cannot define socio-economic reasons as life happens and a whole number of things take place, and one must trust somebody to make the best decisions for themselves.

In the context of the provision of services, recently the head of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in Britain proposed that nursing staff, midwives and so on should be able to dispense the abortion pill, and it should be made widely available in the early stages of pregnancy without much hoo-hah. It could also be dispensed through pharmacies or in the normal regulatory way in which we deal with any sort of pharmaceutical tablets or whatever. Does Dr. Henchion believe the abortion pill should be affordable and made available nationally through our network of pharmacies, local nursing services or local GPs? Perhaps I have not explained myself. Would that be a good way of opening services up from an access point of view?