The Labour Party says the Government is failing women by not putting safe access zones around maternity and abortion clinics.
Yesterday, Stephen Donnelly said plans for providing safe access zones around clinics that provide abortion services were on hold, amid a number of legal issues.
Measures to protect patients and staff from potential demonstrations were promised following the passing of the abortion referendum in 2018.
Senator Annie Hoey says women have waited long enough.
"This was a key promise that was made by the then Minister for Health who is still sitting in Cabinet by the way, that safe access zones were to be a priority.
"And we're now a couple years on, we're no closer to getting safe access zones, in fact we seem to now be caught in a bit of a legal discursion about whether or not they can work and these kinds of things rather than actually just taking maternity health seriously and legislating for safe access zones," says Hoey.
Senator Hoey also says without these safe access zones women attending maternity and abortion services are at risk of harassment.
"It just allows people who are going for a medical appointment, who are maybe grieving, who are facing very tough decisions without facing harassment or bullying or intimidation or really very difficult and gruesome images that are conjuring up extremely difficult life experiences for people who may be going in and out.
"I just think we can't keep putting maternal health and people's wellbeing on the back burner in this country."
