Irish lawmakers support abortion in first 12 weeks

Parliamentary committee recommendation shows more liberal position on delicate issue in Ireland

AN IRISH parliamentary committee yesterday recommended making abortions available up to 12 weeks into pregnancy, with no exemptions, in a clear sign of support for reform in the largely Catholic country ahead of a referendum next year.

Fourteen of the committee’s 21 TDS [MPS] voted in favour of repealing a controversial amendment to the Irish constitution, which allows abortion only if there is a real and substantial risk to the life of the mother.

The recommendation will be taken into account by Simon Harris, the health minister, as he prepares the wording of the referendum, which prochoice activists hope will spell the end of the de facto ban on terminations.

Irish legislators also recommended that the government legalise abortions in cases of rape and fatal foetal abnormalities. However, they rejected a motion to allow unrestricted access to abortion up to 22 weeks of term.

“We did it,” tweeted Brid Smith, an Irish TD, shortly after the vote.

“Now to win the referendum; congrats to all those women who fought and campaigned for 34 years to end this barbaric law! and [sic] in memory of those who suffered so cruelly.”

The votes follow three months of fraught debate in Ireland, where abortion remains a fiercely controversial issue, dividing parties and voters.

A recent poll suggested that 70 per cent supported a repeal of the eighth amendment, though there was little consensus on how the law should be reformed. Only 24 per cent of voters favoured unrestricted abortion up to 22 weeks, according to the poll which was carried out in October, while 57 per cent would allow abortions in cases of rape and fatal foetal abnormalities.

Two TDS from Fine Gael, the ruling party, and Fianna Fail, the opposition as well as two Independent TDS, voted against yesterday’s motion on repealing the amendment.

A referendum was a key pledge of Leo Varadkar, the Irish prime minister, though he is yet to confirm which side he will campaign for. Mr Varadkar, a medical doctor by profession, has previously described himself as “pro-life”, but has also criticised the amendment as being “too restrictive.”

Mr Varadkar’s health minister has already come out in favour of repealing the amendment, because he believes the issue should not be decided by the 79-year-old constitution.

Abortion has always been illegal in Ireland but the ban was added to the constitution in 1983 following a referendum where 67 per cent of voters were in favour and 33 per cent against.

A woman convicted of having an illegal termination faces up to 14 years in prison. Many women are forced to travel to Britain for an abortion, in a process condemned by campaigners as degrading and traumatic.