A new abortion law would lift the threat of criminal sanctions for women who illegally terminate their pregnancies in Ireland, The Times can reveal.
The proposal to decriminalise abortion comes as a leading obstetrician has said he would be against the state relying on private abortion clinics if the Eighth Amendment is repealed.
A referendum is expected to be held in May on whether Ireland’s anti-abortion laws should be lifted, after the government supported a national vote at a cabinet meeting at Monday.
It also comes as Simon Coveney, the tánaiste, is expected to outline his own alternative to the government plan to introduce free access to abortion up to 12 weeks if the Eighth Amendment is repealed.
A spokesman said that Mr Coveney, who is in London today for a series of key Brexit meetings, would be giving more details soon but was not prepared to elaborate publicly yet.
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Last night the government published a summary of the legal advice it received on the possible repeal of the amendment, which gives an unborn child the same right to life as its mother.
Simon Harris, the health minister, briefed opposition politicians on the plans to replace the controversial provision with a new amendment to give the Oireachtas the power to set abortion law if the public votes for repeal.
It would be followed by a new law to legalise abortion up to 12 weeks for all women, and beyond 12 weeks when the woman’s health is at risk and for cases of fatal foetal abnormalities. It is understood that the government also plans to use the legislation to lift criminal sanctions for any woman accessing an abortion outside the regulated grounds.
At the moment, anyone who illegally terminates a pregnancy could receive a 14-year prison sentence. Under the proposed measures, any doctor who performs an abortion outside the set grounds would still face prosecution.
Sources close to the government told The Times that there were concerns that fully decriminalising abortion, which was recommended by the Citizens’ Assembly and an Oireachtas committee, could unintentionally prevent the prosecution of doctors in cases of non-consensual abortions.
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Peter Boylan, head of the Institute of Obstetrics and Gynaecologists, said he supported criminalisation remaining for any medical professional who was caught performing an abortion outside the law.
Dr Boylan said there would need to be increased support for medical professionals so abortion services could be available on the public health service. If the public votes to reform abortion law, the government is planning to make terminations available through abortion pills prescribed by a GP. “There will need to be a lot of investment, there will need to be training, there are a lot of problems with the GP contract at the moment that will need to be negotiated before they take on abortion services as well,” he said, adding that he would not be in favour of private abortion clinics such as Marie Stopes being relied on to offer terminations.
Mr Harris has said that he hopes to publish the repeal bill and a policy paper on the new abortion law on March 6 and then to have the referendum bill at its second stage on March 8, which is International Women’s Day. The minister said he was eager to hold the referendum before the end of May and was relying on opposition politicians to help ensure the referendum bill passes as quickly as possible.
The government was advised that if the public supports repealing the Eighth Amendment then it would need to be replaced with a new amendment explaining that the Oireachtas had the power to set abortion law.
If the Eighth Amendment was not replaced, the attorney-general advised that it could be argued that the unborn would have other constitutional rights that could block any new abortion law. The advice was that while no new abortion law would be completely free from legal challenge, repealing and replacing the Eighth Amendment would be the most secure option.