Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

I will comment on what Deputy Durkan said because I fully agree that when one talks about a GP-led service, one rings one's doctor and one goes to the surgery. When one is pregnant, which is obviously much more serious, one often sees a nurse. I hardly ever saw a doctor. Perhaps people do not understand that is how GP-led services work. People should not make out that there will be a big change from the current regime. In 1967 when the Abortion Act was being drafted in Britain, a provision relating to two doctors was inserted. That is not necessary now because things have moved on so much. With the abortion pill we knew it would be much more simple. I will refer to the phrase "surgical abortion". It is not surgery; it is just a vacuum. The reason I mention it is other abortions such as late term abortions are much more complicated for health reasons and for other reasons but they are a minority. We are introducing a new law.

I will make one comment about the nature of the referendum debate. It is bad form if people used arguments in the referendum debate that were not necessary and if they over complicated the issues. That might have happened. It was made clear in the committee, and we knew from testimony, that the abortion pill could be administered by a lot more than a doctor. This is not a breach of faith in the context of what people voted on.