Irish Family Planning Association, Dublin, Ireland.
School of Social Work and Social Policy, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.
Int J Gynaecol Obstet. 2021 Aug;154(2):379-384. doi: 10.1002/ijgo.13720. Epub 2021 May 18.
Early abortion care became available in Ireland in January 2019. Service delivery involves two consultations with a medical practitioner, separated by a mandatory 3-day waiting period. The Model of Care for termination of pregnancy initially required in-person visits. The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic necessitated significant reductions in in-person interactions in healthcare. A revised Model of Care for termination of pregnancy, issued for the duration of the pandemic, permits delivery of early abortion care by remote consultation. Significantly, this was introduced without amending the 2018 abortion law. The pandemic precipitated a rapid development in the delivery of abortion care that was not anticipated at the time of abortion law reform only 18 months earlier. We outline the work undertaken to maintain access to abortion care in early pregnancy through the lens of a single community-level provider and explore what these developments may mean for abortion law, policy, and service delivery.
2019 年 1 月，爱尔兰开始提供早期堕胎护理服务。服务提供包括与医疗从业者进行两次咨询，两次咨询之间有强制性的 3 天等待期。最初，终止妊娠的护理模式要求进行面对面的就诊。COVID-19 大流行的爆发需要在医疗保健中大幅减少面对面的互动。在大流行期间发布的修订后的终止妊娠护理模式允许通过远程咨询提供早期堕胎护理。重要的是，这是在不修改 2018 年堕胎法的情况下实施的。大流行促使堕胎护理的提供迅速发展，而这在 18 个月前进行堕胎法改革时是没有预料到的。我们概述了在堕胎法改革仅 18 个月后，通过单一社区级提供者的视角，为维护早期妊娠堕胎护理的可及性所做的工作，并探讨这些发展对堕胎法、政策和服务提供可能意味着什么。
