Irish Government Approves Abortion Referendum Bill

The Irish Government has finalised the wording for an abortion referendum giving the go-ahead for voters to have their say on liberalising Ireland abortion laws.
The cabinet, meeting on International Women’s Day, approved a bill on Thursday allowing the long-anticipated referendum to go ahead.
The move comes in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling on Wednesday that protections for the unborn child offered under the state’s constitution do not extend beyond the right to life.
If Ireland votes in favour of repeal, the government has said it will introduce legislation permitting unrestricted abortion during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy.
Currently, terminations are only allowed in the Irish Republic when the life of the mother is at risk, including from suicide, and the maximum penalty for accessing an illegal abortion is 14 years in prison.
The taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, said: “This referendum is about asking our citizens to allow women to make major decisions for themselves. It’s about trusting women to decide, in the early weeks of their pregnancy, what’s right for them and their families.
“And it’s about trusting our doctors to decide when continuing with a pregnancy is a risk to the life or health of a woman.
“Above all it’s about trusting Irish people to consider this matter in depth, with compassion and empathy, as I know they will.”
Ireland’s Fine Gael-led minority government believes there is enough cross-party support for the bill to become law. If passed, a referendum commission will be established, which will publish a report at the end of March setting out the exact wording of the referendum proposition.
The Referendum Commission is an independent statutory body that must be established in advance of any referendum in Ireland to provide unbiased information to the public about the issue.
> Shiuly Akter