Campaigners have again called on the government to axe some restrictions on abortion to make it more widely accessible for women.

There are renewed calls to scrap of the three-day wait period for women seeking abortion, as well as an expansion of the service beyond the first 12 weeks.

Yesterday marked ten years since the death of Savita Halappanavar who was 17 weeks pregnant when she died at University Hospital Galway from sepsis while suffering a miscarriage.

Activist Ailbhe Smyth told The Anton Savage Show that more must be done to make abortion truly accessible to all women who need it.

"While there are severe inadequacies in the law which is being reviewed at the moment ... I am extremely disappointed in the very slow pace of the rollout of proper services."

She said that women being able to access the service locally  and "promptly" is important, given the time-sensitivity of pregnancy.

Shortfalls

Ms Smyth believes that the lack of access to the service for women in "large swathes of the country" is "not good enough".

"Only 11 of the 19 maternity hospitals and units are fully operational in the provision of abortion services", she said.

"In many parts of the country, there aren't GPS or GPS who are offering the service."

Ms Smyth said that she finds the relatively low number of GPs offering the service "incomprehensible", given that it is a legal procedure.

Savita Halappanavar

Director of the National Women's Council Orla O'Connor concurs that abortion services are not where they need to be.

"I think it is really important to remember the death of Savita Halappanavar and that we remember her life."

"She was 31 years of age, she was a vibrant young woman who lost her life in a very traumatic painful and very unnecessary death."

"In the aftermath of Savita's death, so many women came and spoke about their experiences and the harm of the eighth amendment", she said.

"That's exactly in a way what we're asking the government to do again: to listen to the experiences of women." 

"It's time to make abortion accessible to all women and people who need it."

Marches will be held across the country today in memory of Savita Halappanavar.

Ms O'Connor described this as a "critical moment" in the government's review of the service.

"It is time to make abortion accessible to all women and people who need it, and that is about making the changes."

She said the three-day wait period is "absolutely unnecessary".

"For any health procedure, it's not there. It's only there for abortions."

"We need to remove that, for example, the 12-week limit ... it is a healthcare procedure and it needs to be a decision between the woman and her doctor."

Listen back to the full conversation here.