IRIsH vOtERs OPPOsE FuLLy LIBERALIsING ABORtION LAws

IERLAND - Irish voters would reject any move to legalize abortion in all circumstances up to 22 weeks, an opinion poll has found.

As the prime minister, Leo Varadkar, and his minority Fine Gael government prepare to frame an abortion reform referendum scheduled for next year, it has emerged that only 24% of voters are in favor of legalizing terminations in nearly all cases. According to an Irish Times/ Ipsos MRBI poll published on Friday, 57% of the Irish electorate would favor allowing abortion in cases of rape, fatal foetal abnormalities and when there is a real risk to a woman’s life. A clear majority about 70% would vote in favor of repealing the eighth amendment to the Irish Republic’s constitution, which gives equal rights to a foetus and a pregnant woman. Prochoice campaigners say the eighth amendment creates a “chill factor” for medical teams who might otherwise carry out terminations under the current law, which allows for terminations where there is a direct threat to a mother’s life or there are indications that a woman would kill herself if the pregnancy continues.

In 2014, a woman who was raped in her home country was forced to give birth by caesarean section in an Irish hospital after being refused an abortion. The young woman had tried to obtain a termination on the grounds that she was at risk of suicide if the pregnancy continued. The case was the first proper test of the country’s 2013 Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act, which was supposed to allow for limited abortions in Irish hospitals. The law provides for cases where the woman’s life would be in danger if she goes full term, or in cases where she is suicidal in such instances as rape and incest. Critics say that in this instance the law proved no practical value to the woman concerned.

(Theguardian.com)