LEGISLATION ALLOWING FOR the creation of ‘safe access zones’ around facilities where abortions are conducted comes into effect from today.

Health Minister Stephen Donnelly said the Health (Termination of Pregnancy Services) (Safe Access Zones) Act 2024 ensures that people who access termination of pregnancy services can do so in safety and with dignity, without fear of influence or intimidation.

Under the new legislation, safe access zones are now in operation within 100 metres of the entrance or exit of all hospitals, GP practices and family planning clinics. 

The zones apply to any facility that can provide abortion services, not just ones that currently do so. 

Within those zones, protests aimed at impeding access or influencing decisions in relation to these services is now a criminal offence.

Anyone prosecuted for this and found guilty could face a fine of up to €2,500 or six months in prison.

The legislation contains a requirement for a “Garda warning” as a precursor to the commission of an offence. This will ensure that people who are at risk of offending are made aware that they are engaged in prohibited conduct and that continuation of this conduct will amount to an offence.

The Department of Health said this mechanism ensures that people have an opportunity to regulate their behaviour and avoid a criminal sanction.

“Patients who require these services are now legally protected from unsolicited influence, intimidation and pressure with a 100-metre zone of relevant healthcare premises,” Donnelly said.

“At a time when they are most in need of empathy and consideration, this law provides them with privacy and security.

“Getting to this point has been a long process with extensive engagement with a range of stakeholders. I’m very pleased that we have reached this milestone in providing people with protections they deserve at a time when they need it most.”

Plans for exclusions zones around medical facilities were originally agreed by all three Government parties in the Programme for Government, with Donnelly saying he was “fully committed” to the plan in September 2022.

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.