Ireland approves ‘life-saving’ abortions for first time

DUBLIN: Irish lawmakers on Friday overwhelmingly approved abortion for the first time in limited cases where the mother’s life is at risk, in a vote that revealed deep divisions in the predominantly Catholic nation.

The change was prompted by the death last year of an Indian woman who had been refused an abortion in an Irish hospital, but more broadly ends years of uncertainty over the legal status of terminations in the country.

Legislators voted through the

THE LATEST MOVE COMES AFTER TRAGIC AND UNTIMELY DEATH OF INDIAN DENTIST SAVITA HALAPPANAVAR

bill by 127 to 31 against in the early hours after two days of marathon debate in parliament. It will now go to a vote in the upper house, where the government has a majority. But in a sign of the rifts that remain on the issue, a junior minister quit her post after voting against the bill and faces exclusion from Prime Minister Enda Kenny’s Fine Gael party.

Kenny revealed recently he had received abusive letters written in blood and opponents of the bill have branded him a murderer, while 35,000 abortion opponents marched in Dublin on Saturday.

The Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill allows for abortion in circumstances where doctors certify there is a real and substantial risk to the life of the mother, as opposed to a risk to her health. It also permits a termination when one obstetrician and two psychiatrists unanimously agree that an expectant mother is a suicide risk.