Two of Ireland’s top women commentators call on TDs to reject the Social Democrats’ Bill to abolish the three-day wait for abortion.
Brenda Power and Sarah Carey tell the Aontú podcast why the 72-hour pause is vital for women facing a life-changing decision – and urge the Dáil to reject the vote tonight (WEDS) to remove it.
In a podcast discussion with an Aontú’s director of communications Larissa Nolan, Power and Carey said they voted for Repeal in 2018, but only because it included this necessary pause period before abortion. Power called the move to delete the safeguard is “anti-woman” and Carey says its removal expects women to make “a really quick and serious decision in the one day.”
All three women had previously urged a No vote in their national newspaper columns in the 2024 family and care referendums in 2024, which were later emphatically rejected by voters. Power won Columnist of The Year for her foresight on the issue.
Brenda Power told the Aontú podcast: “In 2024, over 2,000 women went for a consultation and then never returned. Even if you allow that half of them had a miscarriage in that time, or went elsewhere – then half of them changed their mind. Surely those are the women we should be legislating for?
“I cannot see – and I have not heard – any good argument for this.
“If we remove this, what we are saying is those one thousand women should not have been given the option to change their minds. That is what the Dáil is asking TDs in this vote – that these women should not be allowed to change their minds.
“Three days is all we are asking to allow a woman to for a decision they may regret for the rest of their lives. I never heard anyone say: the three day wait ruined my life.”
Sarah Carey told the podcast:
“This is a middle ground issue. I voted to Repeal, but along with many, many others, I did so in the comfort of this one thing: that there would be a three-day wait between consultation and going ahead with it.
“We mandate waiting periods and consideration periods for all sorts of things. And for something as serious as this: what is wrong with three days? It is just three days to take a breath. It is a crisis pregnancy. It is a crisis situation. People are in a panic. I don’t understand where it comes from, this idea women should make a really quick decision to do it in the same day. By abolishing it you can do harm, by keeping it, you won’t.”
Sarah Carey is a political commentator and columnist with the Irish Independent. Brenda Power writes for the Sunday Independent and the Irish Daily Mail. The full podcast will be broadcast later tonight, with clips on Aontú’s social media.
