The Republic of Ireland is proposing a relaxation of its staunch anti-abortion legislation, to permit women for the first time to terminate their pregnancies if their lives are in danger or if they are at risk of suicide. Ireland has among the strictest anti-abortion laws in the world. At present, around 4,200 girls and women each year are forced to travel from Ireland to England and Wales to seek termination of their pregnancies. The bill follows the tragic case of Savita Halappanavar, who died after she was denied an abortion during the seventeenth week of her pregnancy. Mrs Halappanavar was miscarrying the foetus, but an independent review into her death found that doctors ‘misunderstood’ Ireland’s strict anti-abortion rules, and were wrong in denying the termination.
The proposed bill has been met with much hostility and outrage in the predominantly Catholic country. Following the announcement of the bill, many Catholic Bishops in Ireland issued a stern warning against any change to the ban on abortions. The Irish Prime Minister, Enda Kelly, announced he has received a barrage of insults about the proposals, telling the Irish Parliament on 11th June he has been sent “medals, scapulars, plastic fetuses and letters written in blood”. Mr Kelly went on to say, “I am now being branded around the country as being a murderer, and that I am going to have on my soul the death of 20 million babies”.
Yet a recent Irish Times/Ipsos survey found that approximately 75% of those questioned supported abortion on the terms set out in the bill. In a bid to appease Conservative voters, provisions have been included into the draft bill permitting those doctors with conscientious objections to refuse to conduct terminations. Similar provisions exist in UK legislation, although doctors are compelled to refer women to an alternative medical professional. Further, the 18-page ‘Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill’ carries a prison sentence of up to fourteen years for those doctors who ‘intentionally destroy unborn human life’ outside the strict provisions of the legislation. Dr. James Reilly, Ireland’s Health Minister has defended the proposed reform to the country’s abortion law.
If you are interested in Medical Ethics issues such as this, then you may be interested in our Medicine Summer School (Part Two) on the 10th-11th August.