Kitty Holland’s report in the Irish Times on the 20th of October 2026 makes deeply disturbing reading. The High Court was told that a 14-year-old girl in State care, who has a disability, was being subjected to appalling sexual exploitation by adult men. The Court made a special-care order, but Tusla, the State’s Child and … Read more
For as long as feminists have been writing and speaking about sexual violence, we have repeatedly framed it as an issue not connected to desire or uncontrolled urges so much as it is to power. While this framing is often misunderstood by people of good faith and bad, it is never more apparent than when … Read more
On 15th MAY 2025, Anna Schmid and I were invited to co-host a participatory workshop, “Creating Abortion Hope” hosted by Ruth Fletcher at Queen Mary University of London. In attendance we had various academics, abortion advocates, abortion providers, and artists eager to talk about the current provision in Ireland, north and south. Over the weekend, … Read more
Failed abortion is a known side-effect of taking abortion pills (approx. 2% of medical abortions will fail). The current regulatory framework governing abortion in Ireland does not permit providers of early medical abortion (EMA) to deliver follow-up care to complete the failed abortion if the woman is beyond 12 weeks gestation and experiencing an ongoing … Read more
Since the repeal of the Eighth Amendment, Ireland has transformed access to abortion care. Early medical abortion (EMA) is now an established part of reproductive healthcare, with GPs and women’s health practitioners providing a safe, effective and acceptable abortion service throughout the country. Yet, like every medical treatment, EMA is not infallible. In a small … Read more
Early medical abortion (EMA) using mifepristone and misoprostol is a safe and effective method of ending a pregnancy before 12 weeks of gestation. Since abortion services were established in Northern Ireland following decriminalisation through the Northern Ireland (Executive Formation etc.) Act 2019 and the adoption of the Abortion (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2020, EMA has become … Read more
When I began working in hospital-based abortion care several months ago, I expected to learn about medications, procedures and clinical decision-making. I did not expect to spend so much time thinking about the law. Over the past several months, I have come to love this work. That may seem an unusual thing to say about … Read more
My interest in the legal witnessing project is driven by my lived experience as a general practitioner (GP) providing abortion care in Ireland since 2019, and by my knowledge of the challenges faced by GP abortion care providers within the Southern Task Group on Abortion and Reproductive Topics (START). I know GPs spend a great … Read more
‘I had a medical abortion at 10 weeks, about a month ago. Two weeks after the treatment began, I called my doctor and told her the pregnancy test had 2 faint lines. The doctor told me this was normal after a heavy bleed and that everything was fine. I had a hospital appointment for something … Read more
‘It was going to be two days, and it’s been a month. I’m exhausted,’ shared a person I (Marcin) met in an English abortion clinic recently. Earlier that day, she had returned to the clinic because her Early Medical Abortion (EMA)—a treatment involving mifepristone and misoprostol tablets completed a month prior—had not fully worked. Since … Read more