A new poll has found that a majority of people are supportive of keeping the 3-day “time to think” before abortion, with 55% supporting retention of the 3-day wait, while 45% favoured its removal.
The poll finding comes ahead of hearings being held by the Oireachtas Health Committee, who are examining the issue after a Sinn Féin proposal to abolish the waiting period was passed in the Dáil in June by 86 votes to 70, with the support of a number of government TDs including Micheál Martin and Simon Harris.
The survey was commissioned by the Pro Life Campaign and carried out by Amárach Research. The fieldwork took place between 28th July – 4th Aug 2026. A total of 877 respondents participated in the poll.
Commenting on the findings, Pro Life Campaign spokesperson Eilís Mulroy said: “We are very encouraged, though not surprised, by these results. Public support for retaining the three-day reflection period has been evident for months and, if anything, appears to be strengthening.”
“What is particularly significant is that majority support already exists, even before the case for retaining the three-day wait has been given anything approaching a fair hearing. For example, the voices of women who have gone ahead with their pregnancies after the three-day wait have not yet been heard. Sinn Féin and others have been relentlessly using the airwaves to attack this important safeguard, while at the same time avoiding proper head-to-head debates on the issue.”
“As more people hear the full case for retaining the three-day reflection period, we believe public support will grow even stronger. Replies to parliamentary questions show that, over a five-year period, 10,534 women did not return to proceed with an abortion after the three-day period had elapsed. That’s an incredible figure and one that, in our view, proves the life-saving impact of the waiting period. We hear from women all the time about how important the reflection period was to them in providing that extra space to think through such a profound and life-altering decision.”
“It is truly shocking that Sinn Féin and other backers of abolishing the three-day wait didn’t even take the time to formally consult with any of these women before pressing ahead with their agenda to get rid of one of the last remaining safeguards under Ireland’s abortion on demand regime,” she said.”
Commenting on the poll result, Sandra Parda of Life Institute said that it seemed opposition to scrapping the measure was rising, with an increasing number of people polled supportive of the 3-day wait.
She pointed to a previous Sunday Independent/Ireland Thinks opinion poll which showed voters had been evenly divided on keeping the 3-day wait at that time – adding, now the opposition to removing the period of reflection is at 55%”
“It’s actually incredible that so many people can see the importance of the 3-day wait before abortion given the media bias on this issue,” she said.
And she warned that scrapping the 3-day period of reflection before abortion could see “already soaring” abortion rates rising – with estimates of up to 2,000 additional abortions every year.
“We increasingly see even those who voted Yes to Repeal say that the massive increase in abortion numbers cause them disquiet, and high profile commentators recently say that they only voted to remove the 8th because they were told there would be restrictions such as the 3-day wait which gives women pause,” Ms Parda said.
“Why would we not want women to have time to reflect on such a huge decision?” she said. “Why rush women when abortion has such a tragically irreversible outcome? We could be looking at a jump of 2,000 in the number of abortions annually. Who in their right mind would want that?”.
She said that the data released to Carol Nolan TD from the HSE showed that between 2019 and 2024 a total of 10,426 women did not return for an an abortion after the 3-day period of reflection which followed their first appointment.
“According to the latest HSE statistics, for example, 10,441 abortions took place in Ireland in a GP or clinical provider setting in 2024. Yet, the information released to Deputy Nolan shows there were 12,641 initial consultations for abortion, meaning that 2,200 (17.4%) women did not proceed with their abortion in 2024 after that 3-day wait,” Ms Parda said.
“Some of those women might have sadly miscarried, we don’t know,” Ms Parda said, “but the truth is that we would know more about this breakdown if the Abortion Review had talked to women who had changed their mind during those 3 days, but they wouldn’t do that”.
She said that the media was guilty of the “most extraordinary bias by omission in deliberately underreporting both the explosion in the abortion numbers and the data from the HSE which shows that more than 10,000 women did not return for an abortion.”
“Rather than scrapping a life-saving measure, we aren’t we talking to women about what made them change their mind in those 3 days?” she said.
“The questions the Irish people need to ask themselves is whether they want abortion rates to go up even further and whether they want to deny women time to think,” she said.