Dublin: The Irish Government has pledged to pass a law soon that will allow women to undergo abortions if pregnancy threatens their lives.
The announcement comes after decades of inaction on abortion in Ireland, and just weeks after the predominantly Catholic country faced international criticism over the death of an Indian woman with an imminent miscarriage.
According to Fox News, Health Minister James Reilly said parliamentary hearings on the issue would begin next month, lawmakers would receive a bill by Easter and they would be expected to vote on it by summer. This would mark the first time that Irish lawmakers have ever voted on abortion, arguably the most divisive issue in a country whose constitution bans the practice, the report said.
Savita Halappanavar spent three days in increasing pain and illness before the fetus died and its remains were surgically removed. According to the report, she then died from blood poisoning and organ failure three days after that.
Her husband has refused to cooperate with two official Irish investigations into her death and instead is planning to sue Ireland in the European Court of Human Rights.
Ireland’s highest court ruled that a 14-year-old girl who had been raped by a neighbor should be provided an abortion because she was making credible threats to kill herself if denied one.
Catholic conservatives opposed the court’s suicide-threat justification, arguing it could be used to expand access to abortion beyond relatively rare cases where a pregnancy endangers a woman”s life, the report added. (ANI)