Voters face sixth referendum on abortion

Voters could be faced with a sixth referendum on abortion to change the Constitution that currently permits termination if a mother’s life is at risk, including from suicide.

The expert group of medical and legal experts is due to present a range of options to the Government in September, but already rifts are appearing between the Coalition partners, and also within the parties.

The Supreme Court ruled 20 years ago that the Government must legislate to allow for abortion if a woman’s life is at risk, and this was further reinforced by the European Court of Human Rights in 2010.

But the Government could take a less liberal view and Europe Minister Lucinda Creighton, when asked when the Government would act on the Supreme Court’s ruling and introduce legislation, said: “The Constitution can always be changed.”

The Fine Gael minister said having ministers and TDs commenting on it was not helpful. “We have to asses the policy orientation of the Government,” she said, adding the Coalition was not at that point yet.

She denied she was referring to Labour junior minister Kathleen Lynch, who said the Government would ultimately have to legislate.

Asked if it was an overstatement to say that the Coalition could founder on the abortion issue, she said: “I think it probably is to overstate it. I’m not going to speculate.”

Last week, at least 15 Fine Gael TDs and senators said they would oppose laws which would allow abortion in limited circumstances.

Some of their Labour party colleagues were equally concerned about the “zeal” of their colleagues to liberalise laws which might lead to full legalisation.

One Labour source said that while it has not come up for discussion yet, “we share some of the same apprehensions and anxieties that were manifest in the Fine Gael parliamentary party meeting last week”.

“There are definitely some elements within the Labour Party who have a more aggressive liberal agenda or radical feminist perspective who would like to take this opportunity to legislate beyond the X case,” said one parliamentary party member.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny said he would not pre-empt the expert’s group report, while Social Protection Minister Joan Burton said the Government must wait for the report and “give it extremely careful consideration”.

Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin told the Irish Examiner yesterday that he remains to be convinced the Oireachtas should legislate on the abortion issue, fearing that it could allow for terminations under more conditions than originally envisaged by the 1992 X case ruling.

In Mar 2002, the last referendum on abortion, an attempt to prevent a woman’s suicidal state being grounds for abortion, was defeated by just 10,000 votes.

A UN hearing last year, following on from the European Court ruling, called for Ireland to legislate for abortion in the case of rape, incestm and when a woman’s health and wellbeing were at risk.

The Catholic Church bans abortion, including to save the mother’s life. However, it considers that treatment for cancer and other life-threatening ailments that inadvertently ends her pregnancy is not necessarily abortion.