TDs have voted to remove the mandatory three-day wait to access an abortion.
The vote was passed 86 votes to 70, with no abstentions.
The Bill will now be scrutinised before the Oireachtas health committee.
Sinn Féin’s Bill looked to remove the mandatory three-day waiting period between a GP consultation and accessing a termination.
The Bill was introduced by health spokesperson David Cullinane this week after Sinn Féin abstained in a vote on a more wide-ranging Bill on abortion tabled by the Social Democrats last month.
While Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Tánaiste Simon Harris said they would vote for the proposal, a free vote was in place for Government TDs.
Among those who voted against the legislation was Minister for Children, Disability and Equality Norma Foley.
The National Women’s Council (NWC) said the vote to remove the “paternalistic and medically unnecessary provision” was “a major win for women”, particularly vulnerable women who may find it difficult to access two GP appointments.
NWC executive director Corrinne Hasson said: “We know that women in situations of domestic abuse, women living in IPAS centres, disabled women, rural women, and women on lower incomes all face more difficulties attending two GP appointments.
“We also know that in some cases the mandatory three-day wait timed women out of care, forcing some to travel. So it’s very welcome that this will now change.”
Barrister Marie O’Shea was commissioned by the Department of Health to conduct a review of the legislation that was introduced after the country voted to liberalise the abortion regime in the landmark Eighth Amendment referendum of 2018.
In her 2023 review report, O’Shea made a series of recommendations.
However, more than a year on, many of the most significant proposals are yet to be implemented.
Among the recommendations proposed by the barrister was the removal of a mandatory three-day waiting period between a woman’s initial medical consultation and her being given access to abortion treatment or medication.
The review also recommends that the threat of criminal sanction is removed for medics found to have acted outside the provisions of the abortion legislation, and that the HSE is given the ability to ensure the provision of services is not disrupted due to issues around conscientious objections by healthcare staff.
O’Shea also urged a review of the legislative definition related to abortion in cases of fatal foetal abnormalities.
