A lot decided but will 12-week proposal prove the limit?

Safe, legal, and rare.

The decision of the Cabinet in one of Europe’s most conservative countries, to put a question to the people seeking a liberalisation of our abortion laws, is significant.

There was some disquiet initially at the Cabinet’s decision to depart from the Oireachtas committee’s recommendation to simply repeal the Eighth Amendment.

Based on advice of the attorney general, Séamus Woulfe, the Cabinet has decided to repeal and replace the 1983 amendment with a wording which asserts the right of the Oireachtas to set abortion laws.

Once a summary of the legal advice was released yesterday, that disquiet evaporated and Woulfe’s advice seems utterly sensible.

He argued while there is no absolute certainty about the post-repeal landscape of rights, the insertion of the wording asserting the right of the Oireachtas is “likely to be a legally safer option than a simple repeal”.

He said that in addition to repeal, it is advisable to “insert a new Article to expressly affirm that laws may be enacted by the Oireachtas providing for the regulation of termination of pregnancy”.

So in addition to agreeing the question to be asked, the Cabinet has also formally agreed to put the question to the people by the end of May, with Friday, May 25, the preferred date.

This is seen as preferable as it avoids any potential clash with State examinations in June and would allow many third-level students vote before they depart on their J1 summer jaunts.

Given the role young people played in the success of the marriage-equality referendum in 2015, most of the political parties are keen to allow them have their say.

While the question will be to repeal and replace, it is inevitable the question of the 12-week limit for unrestricted abortions, as recommended by the Oireachtas committee, will dominate the debate.

Health Minister Simon Harris is set to present a general outline of what legal framework would exist in a post-repeal world some time in March or early April.

Tánaiste Simon Coveney has made clear his concerns. Today in this newspaper, Agriculture Minister Michael Creed has outlined his discomfort on the 12-week issue — his views are reflective of a constituency within both Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil.

If the Eighth is repealed, it will be for the Oireachtas to put in place a legal framework after that.

The Government’s minority position in both Houses of the Oireachtas means there is a real threat to the 12-week limit being rejected.

Ministers were quick to admit yesterday that they cannot give any guarantees as to what may happen post-referendum.

Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy confirmed that as a supporter of reform, he does hold fears the 12-week limit proposal may be a bridge too far for some people.

The country is bracing itself for several months of a bitterly divisive campaign as occurred in 1983 — plenty of those in Leinster House today still carry the scars of that period.

While at last we have a clear road map to a conclusion on this thorny issue, there is absolutely no guarantee the desire for reform will be enough to deliver it.