Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú) | Oireachtas source

Go raibh míle maith agat, a Chathaoirligh, agus gabhaim buíochas leis na finnéithe as ucht teacht isteach inniu.. I have spoken to many people who voted on both sides of the referendum with regard to this particular review. The issue which raised the most eyebrows is around the three-day wait period. What people find hard to understand is how such a concrete recommendation could be made to get rid of the three-day wait period, without any real detail as to how the number of women who have gone through the three-day wait period then decided to go ahead and raise their own child, as such.

We have had a lot of questions on that element here today, and I still do not know. It seems really surprising that the State created a three-day wait period for the specific objective of giving mothers an opportunity to weigh up the decision, which is an enormous decision. It is a decision to end a life, which is a big decision. Yet, the report does not actually agree that any women have used the three-day wait period to change their minds about proceeding to have an abortion, and then have raised their children. Have the witnesses spoken to any women who went through that three-day wait period, and decided to go ahead and have their child?