The Independent report that despite the coming into effect
of Ireland’s new abortion law an ongoing disagreement, between Health
Minister James Reilly and the Institute of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists,
has resulted in delay in producing abortion regulation guidelines.
Dr Reilly is insisting that there is no necessity for the
guidelines to be in place for abortions to be carried out but the Institute of
Obstetricians and Gynaecologists disagree and will not be dictated to. There is
also disagreement about the source of the proposed regulations, Dr Reilly in a
statement said they would come from the Institute but this has been denied by
the Institute Chairman Robert
Harrison who says that that the guidelines were
being devised by a working group set up by Dr Reilly's own department.
The Independent report says that the obstetricians have insisted they are not responsible for a
delay in producing clinical guidelines for the new abortion legislation.
The guidelines for how doctors should implement the law are
not in place even though it came into force yesterday.
Health Minister James Reilly has insisted that the one
outstanding issue of clinical guidelines "are a matter for clinicians and
totally out of our control".
And he said the clinical guidelines for obstetricians would
be coming from the Institute of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.
But the institute's chairman, Professor Robert Harrison,
said he wanted to set the record straight.
He pointed out that the guidelines were being devised by a
working group set up by Dr Reilly's own department.
"The guidelines are coming from the Department of
Health, not directly from the Institute of Obstetricians and
Gynaecologists," he said.
It is understood that the working group's clinical
guidelines for doctors on how to implement the abortion law have been delayed
by the range of different medical professionals involved.
It has to take account of the views of obstetricians, GPs
and psychiatrists. The 12-member group contains 10 representatives of the
medical professions, one representative from the Department of Health and one
from the HSE corporate section.
It is chaired independently by Dr Declan Bedford, a
specialist in public health medicine.
The group met for the first time on September 24, 2013.
CONTROVERSY
Prof Harrison said that his institute saw the need to make
sure that the clinical guidelines for the abortion legislation were drawn up
correctly.
"I don't think there's any controversy at all. This is
a very tricky thing. I think they are wise to take their time and get it
right," he said.
In a recent interview with the Irish Independent, Dr Reilly
said that the guidelines would be in place "very early in the new year".
But he said that abortions could be carried out without them. "You can.
Absolutely. Totally. The most important thing you need is the panel of experts
to review an appeal case," he said.
Under the legislation, a panel of doctors will have to give
the go-ahead for an abortion where they believe there is a real and substantial
risk to the life of a mother, including threat of suicide.
Doctors have been signed up to these panels, as well as the
appeal panels for women who believe they have been wrongly refused permission
for an abortion.
A spokesman for Dr Reilly said the working group was set up
to prepare high-level inter-professional guidance to implement the Protection
of Life During Pregnancy Act.
"There is no legal requirement that guidance be developed
for the Act to commence," he said.
The abortion law was hugely controversial, with five Fine
Gael TDs and two senators losing the party whip for refusing to vote in favour
of it.
About 25 hospitals in the State will be authorised to carry
out abortions in these circumstances under the provisions of the Act.
The hospitals will have to provide the registration number
of the doctor who carried out the abortion to Dr Reilly and to the Medical
Council, as well as the registration number of the doctor who approved the
abortion.
There will be an annual report published on the number of
abortions carried out.
Dr Reilly is insisting that there is no necessity for the
guidelines to be in place for abortions to be carried out but the Institute of
Obstetricians and Gynaecologists disagree and will not be dictated to. There is
also disagreement about the source of the proposed regulations, Dr Reilly in a
statement said they would come from the Institute but this has been denied by
the Institute Chairman Robert 
