Family doctors who are members of the Irish College of General Practitioners (ICGP) have voted in favour of a motion calling for women pregnant with non-viable foetal anomalies to have access to legal abortion in the Republic.

Groups from both sides of the abortion debate have hit out at the Coalition’s attempts to bring clarity to the issue.

Anti-abortion activists say a poll commissioned by them shows majority backing for the current legal position.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny has said the Government is not in the business of liberalising abortion.

Protesters for and against abortion were staging separate rallies in Dublin today as each side stepped up their campaigning.

The Pro-Life campaign has spoken out against legislating for abortion in circumstances outside of the 'X-Case', as they say it could lead to abortion on demand.

The publication of the expert group on abortion sparked predictably opposing responses from either side of the debate.

A SURVEY for a pro-life group has said two out of three Irish people believe the Constitution should protect human embryos and prevent abortions unless medically necessary.

PRO-life campaigners yesterday said a new opinion poll showed strong public support for a continued ban on abortion.

SENSITIVE legislation must be produced to protect the life of the “embryonic human being”, the Pro-Life campaign insisted.

The Irish Family Planning Association was accused of “scaremongering” today for supporting a legal challenge by three women opposing Ireland’s abortion laws.

ABORTION advertisements could be broadcast to Irish homes following a proposal to free up restrictions on British television channels.

DR AUDREY DILLON of the Pro-Life Campaign dismisses the findings of the recent MRBI poll on abortion on the basis that it “made no distinction” between different grounds for abortion.

THE Government is trying to avoid a row with the pro-life movement in the run-up to the election.

MAKING it a criminal offence to pay for sex in Ireland is the only way to stop the growing number of younger men using prostitutes, Rape Crisis Network Ireland (RCNI) insisted yesterday.

Abortion statistics from an in-depth survey on sexual health are inaccurate due to the way the questions were framed, the Pro-Life Campaign claimed today.

A LEADING anti-abortion group has called on the Government to provide greater legal protection for human embryos in the face of growing pressure for their use in stem cell research.

IRISH infertility experts are hoping that a legal battle over the custody of human embryos will also clarify where Constitutional protection to the unborn begins.

FEWER Irish women travelled to Britain to have an abortion last year compared with 2003, according to statistics from the British Department of Health.

The controversial EU vote over funding stem-cell research has been postponed until next week, the Tánaiste confirmed tonight.

Ireland’s pro-life movement tonight claimed record numbers of Irish women having abortions in Britain were directly linked to a 1995 decision to make available information about overseas termination facilities.