CABINET HAS discussed the ossibility of amending Ireland’s abortion laws, according to inister of State for Disability, Equality and Mental Health, Kathleen Lynch.
Ms Lynch yesterday launched a new report which called for the immediate enactment of legislation "to clarify the circumstances under which an abortion may be lawful". The Your Rights. Right Nowreport, produced by a coalition of 18 non-governmental organisations and trade unions, said the Government should address the recommendations of the European Court of Human Rights in 2010 and the Constitutional Review Group in 1996.
“I do know that this issue has been discussed already in Cabinet, because at the end of the day we have a High Court, Supreme Court judgment coming down the tracks at us,” Ms Lynch said.
Last December, the court ruled Ireland had failed to properly implement the constitutional right to abortion in the circumstances of the X Case, where a woman’s life is deemed to be at risk. The State has six months from the judgment date to submit a plan to the Council of Europe outlining actions it intends to take to implement the ruling.
The programme for government acknowledged the ruling subsequent to the established ruling of the Irish Supreme Court on the X Case.
“We will establish an expert group to address this issue, drawing on appropriate medical and legal expertise with a view to making recommendations to Government on how this matter should be properly addressed,” the programme states.
Ahead of the election, Labour leader Eamon Gilmore disagreed with Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny’s analysis that the ECHR ruling on Ireland’s abortion laws should be looked at by an all-party committee of the Oireachtas.
He said the Oireachtas should bring in legislation to allow abortion in circumstances where the mother’s life or health was at risk. Mr Kenny had stressed the court’s decision and the previous Supreme Court decision referred specifically to the mother’s life.
Meanwhile, the Your Rights. Right Now report has been submitted to the United Nations as part of a review process under which Ireland and other states will be examined in October by peers at the UN Human Rights Council.
The report “identifies gaps in Ireland’s respect for a wide range of civil, political, economic and social rights”, the authors state.
The organisations behind the report are Amnesty International, Children’s Rights Alliance, Dóchas, Educate Together, Free Legal Advice Centres (Flac), Immigrant Council of Ireland, Integration Centre, Irish Congress of Trade Unions, Irish Council for Civil Liberties, Irish Family Planning Association, Irish Penal Reform Trust, Irish Senior Citizens’ Parliament, Irish Traveller Movement, National Women’s Council of Ireland, Simon Communities of Ireland, Transgender Equality Network Ireland, Disability Federation of Ireland and Union of Students in Ireland.
