The A to Z of 2013

January began a new year, but the old canard of Irish public life quickly came to the fore. Oireachtas hearings into proposed abortion legislation were held in the first weeks of January, opening up the debate to doctors, psychiatrists, religious, and interested parties. Legislation was deemed necessary on foot of Savita Halappanavar’s tragic death the previous October, and a ruling from the European Court of Human Rights. The issue was whether or not the threat of suicide was sufficient to rule a termination necessary to save the life of the mother.

Doctors differed, but at the end of two rounds of consultations, little was changed in the proposed bill.