Protection needed ‘only if foetus can survive’

A constitutional amendment is not needed to allow for the abortion of a foetus that has no chance of survival outside the womb, legal experts have argued.

On the second day of hearings ahead of the drafting of abortion laws by the Government, the Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children, was told the legislation should declare that the constitutional right to life only applies to “life that has the capacity to be born”.

But the protection does apply to a foetus that will survive, even for a short few moments, after birth and therefore a referendum would be needed to allow abortion in these cases.