LEGISLATION ALLOWING FOR the creation of ‘safe access zones’ around facilities where abortions are conducted has passed through the Oireachtas.

Health Minister Stephen Donnelly said the Health (Termination of Pregnancy) (Safe Access Zones) Bill 2023 will now be referred to the office of the President to be signed into law.

The legislation would introduce 100-metre exclusion zones around all hospitals, GP practices and family planning clinics. Anyone who repeatedly protests outside such facilities could face a €2,500 fine or six months in prison.

The zones will also apply to hospitals that provide acute inpatient services.

The minister said he is now looking forward to enacting the legislation “as soon as possible”.

“The fundamental premise of this Bill is about respect. It is about dignity. It is about ensuring that people can access healthcare services and feel safe and not be intimidated,” Donnelly said.

“I have listened to women, to families, to health care professionals who unequivocally expressed their support for this Bill.

“I am pleased that we have reached this milestone. The Bill will now be referred to the President for signature and I look forward to enacting it as soon as possible.”

The move was praised by the Labour party, which said the enaction of safe access zones will be a step towards “respect and dignity in healthcare”.

Annie Hoey, a Labour senator and a member of the Oireachtas health committee, said the passage of the safe access zones legislation is a “momentous occasion”.

“Unfortunately, we have seen a huge number of awful incidents outside of maternity hospitals and GP clinics where women and pregnant people have been intimidated or verbally abused,” she said.

“We know that this behaviour has been intimidatory to some GPs, particularly in rural areas, who have opted not to provide abortion services as a result.

“Everyone deserves access to healthcare in a safe and non-judgemental way. The safe access zones legislation will be crucial to this.”

The Safe Access Zones Bill has been broadly positively received across the political spectrum.

However, members of the Oireachtas Health Committee previously raised concerns that the new law could be “made a mockery of” due to a lack of clarity on whether warnings issued by gardaí to those demonstrating in safe access zones can be recorded.

Donnelly said at the time that while an offence under the upcoming legislation could be logged by gardaí in the national Pulse system, where crimes are recorded, there is currently no centralised way to log formal warnings.

Donnelly told the committee that the warning approach is included in the Bill because “legitimate” protests by either pro-choice or pro-life demonstrators may unwittingly pass by, or be close to, an abortion centre.

The minister said it would be up to gardaí’s discretion to decide if an offence has been committed or if a legitimate protest is happening.