Before we get going here I should make one thing absolutely clear, Simon Harris is in no way pledging to undertake some kind of campaign to personally travel the country providing the women of Ireland with the pill. I do not want you to think for a moment that Simon Harris will, having rented some sort of mini-van on a long-term lease and loaded it with contraceptives, be touring around the country dispensing them like some sort of safe-sex themed Santa Claus. Rather, he has stated his commitment to this in his capacity as Minister for Health.
In the build up to the referendum on the 8th Amendment in May it was recommended by the Joint Oireachtas Committee that various forms of contraception should be more easily and readily available throughout Ireland. Today, Simon Harris reiterated his pledge that all women should be provided with access to free contraception - ideally by next year.
Women who have a medical card are currently able to access contraceptives for free. However, those without must pay for a consultation with a doctor in order to obtain a prescription for the pill - which needs to be renewed every six months - as well as paying for the pill each month, or indeed for any form of contraception.
He stated however that significant legislative hurdles remained in place before this would be attainable. Speaking to TheJournal.ie he stated that;
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There are two issues – the cost of the doctor’s visit, because generally women need to see a doctor on these matters, and then the actual cost of the contraception, so it is likely to require an amendment to primary legislation, but I am hoping we can make progress on that in 2019.
Making the pill more easily attainable is an entirely prescient decision and removing the cost barrier that can prove prohibitive to some will go a long way to ensuring that people have greater control over their own reproductive rights.
