All Maternity Units Ordered to Prepare for Abortions
06.12.2018
The Department of Health has told the Health Service Executive to ensure abortion will be available in all 19 of Ireland’s maternity units from January 1st. The department has also asked the 19 units to provide updates on how they plan to provide abortions from next month. Doctors in a number of smaller maternity units have said they do not have the resources to provide an abortion service.
Funding is being provided by the HSE for a series of educational sessions for healthcare staff who will be involved with the provision of abortions. These are due to start on December 10th and will be made available to all staff who will be providing abortions from January 1st, across community and hospital settings.
Concerns have been raised in recent weeks about the availability of anomaly scanning machines. Only 14 of the 19 maternity units can now offer anomaly scans, up from seven in 2017. Recruitment and training for the remaining five units is under way, with the aim of having anomaly scanning offered to all women in all maternity units during 2019.
The Irish Times. December 3.