Abortion legislation - It’s time to end the uncertainty

Any lingering doubts harboured by politicians about the level of popular support for legislation on a limited form of abortion in the Republic will hopefully be removed by the spectacle of thousands of people taking to the streets in memory of Savita Halappanavar.

From Dublin to Clonakilty, Galway, Kilkenny, Sligo, Limerick, Carlow, Ennis, London, and New York, they marched and held candlelight vigils, demanding that ‘never again’ should the circumstances surrounding the demise of the 31-year-old Indian woman following a miscarriage at Galway University Hospital be repeated.

With Ireland’s international reputation now in disrepute, the burning question is whether the Government will have the political courage to end the uncertainty caused by the failure of six administrations to enact legislation following the 1992 Supreme Court verdict in the X case. Involving a 14-year-old girl raped by a neighbour, it allowed for medical termination in cases where a mother’s life is in jeopardy.