Legislation on abortion paves way for Republic poll

LEGISLATION for the planned abortion referendum in the Republic will be published today, paving the way for voters to decide whether to liberalise the country’s abortion laws.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said the Irish cabinet will meet this morning to discuss the wording of the referendum bill.

If ministers give it approval it could be debated in the Dail as early as that evening.

Mr Varadkar said he had agreed to a request from Attorney General Seamus Woulfe for a day to consider a written judgment by the Republic’s Supreme Court.

“It’s important that we get this right,” Mr Varadkar said. “It’s important that we dot the Is and cross the Ts.”

Yesterday the Republic’s Supreme Court rejected part of a High Court judgment which found the unborn had rights beyond the right to life contained in the Eighth Amendment.

The ruling removes much uncertainty over the proposed referendum, due to be held in May.

Delivering judgment, Chief Justice Frank Clarke said it was the unanimous view of the court that the unborn does not have rights outside the right to life in the Eighth Amendment.

It also found that the unborn was not considered to be a child for the purposes of Article 42A of the constitution, introduced with the passing of the children’s rights referendum in 2012.

Had the High Court findings been upheld, even if the amendment were to be repealed later this year, it was considered conceivable legal challenges aiming at safeguarding the unborn could be mounted.

The judgment removes a potentially significant stumbling block to the holding of the abortion referendum.

Irish health minister Simon Harris said it was right and proper that the Irish government waited to consider and finalise the wording of the referendum until the court made its ruling.

“If you believe there needs to be change in this area in this country you need to repeal the Eighth Amendment, if you believe that it is wrong that a woman who is brutally raped and has to carry her pregnancy to full term in this country, you have to repeal the Eighth Amendment,” Mr Harris said.

“If you believe it is wrong that a woman who has a fatal foetal abnormality in her pregnancy finds herself having to travel to Britain and bring back her baby’s remains in the boot of her car, you have to repeal the Eighth Amendment.”