Olivia Mitchell (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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920. To ask the Minister for Health the changes that are proposed either to legislation and/or guidelines to ensure that a clear pathway of referral for an assessment for a pregnancy termination is established; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33496/14]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act 2013 was enacted in July 2013 and commenced in January 2014. The purpose of this Act is to restate the general prohibition on abortion in Ireland while regulating access to lawful termination of pregnancy in accordance with the X case and the judgment in the European Court of Human Right in the A, B and C v Ireland case.

The Act also creates procedures which apply to the lawful termination of pregnancy. The objectives of these procedures are to ensure that, where lawful termination of pregnancy is under consideration, the right to life of the unborn is respected where practicable, and, secondly, to ensure that a woman can ascertain by means of a clear process whether she requires this medical procedure or not.

There are no proposals to amend the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act. The Guidance Document to assist health professional in the implementation of this Act is currently being finalised and will be published shortly. This document includes identifying referral pathways to fulfil the requirements of the Act and other relevant operational matters.