Doctors sound alarm over January abortion start date

The ability of the health service to deliver abortion services on January 1 looks increasingly uncertain

Simon Harris, Minister for Health.Left: extracts from the letters sent by 24 concerned foetal medicine specialists and the masters of the three Dublin maternity hospitals (below) Picture: Rollingnews

The letter was short but unambiguous. It was addressed to the chair of the Institute of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, and it called for an emergency general meeting (EGM) of the organisation.

It began to circulate in the middle of last week. By Friday, the institute confirmed that it had received the requisite number of signatures to proceed with an egm.

The motion being proposed is as follows: “Because of risks to patient safety ...