On Saturday, September 26, over 100 people gathered in Dublin to take part in the 15th annual March for Choice, demanding an end to the three-day wait and 12-week cut-off point for accessing abortion in Ireland. The protest was organised by the Abortion Rights Campaign, which is advocating to make abortion care free, safe, legal and local.
The March for Choice follows the Dáil recently voting in June 2026 to pass a bill that would “abolish the mandatory three-day wait rule for access to a termination of pregnancy”, after it was previously rejected in December 2025. The Abortion Rights Campaign commented, “This Bill brings Ireland closer to international best practice for abortion care. The government must now ensure that the 3-day waiting period is abolished without unnecessary delays and spurious additions”.
Protestors marched from the Department of Health to Molesworth Street, where a rally was held involving numerous speakers. These speakers included Callum Kenny of Trans and Intersex Pride Dublin, Richael Carroll of the Abortion Rights Campaign, Nem Kearns of Disabled Women Ireland, Amy Walsh of LCM Bereavement Support and Black-Irish mental health activist, Blezzing Dada. Members of the Labour Party, Green Party, Social Democrats and ROSA were also in attendance.
During her speech, Richael Carroll expressed, “When we voted to repeal the 8th amendment in 2018, we were voting for compassionate healthcare in Ireland”. She continued, “A lot has happened since 2018… At least 1,500 pregnant people were forced to travel abroad for abortion care. People we voted to protect, and yet our legislation failed them”.
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Additionally, at the rally, Callum Kenny critiqued the Irish government’s lack of action in improving the healthcare system, stating, “The government have time and time again shown that their only interests are their own.”
He went on: “Even when they feign to care, by ordering in a report to abortion legislation or a working group for a new model of trans healthcare, they ignore and undermine the outcomes and communities that they come from.”
In an online statement published prior to the Dublin protest, the Abortion Rights Campaign also emphasised the precedent of other countries removing mandatory waiting periods for abortion, stating: “The World Health Organization considers mandatory waiting periods as a significant barrier to accessing abortion care. Spain abolished its mandatory waiting period in 2023, while the Netherlands removed theirs in 2022”.
For more information on abortion laws in Ireland, check out the Abortion Rights Campaign’s website.
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