Draft abortion laws to be unveiled
Draft new laws on abortion will be published this evening after an hour of crunch talks in Cabinet.
Senior Government ministers are expected to emerge this evening – after they were forced to break their weekly meeting earlier because they were unable to get through all the items on the agenda.
Taoiseach Enda Kenny denied speculation that ministers had hit a brick wall with conflicting views on whether suicide should be deemed grounds for an abortion.
“We considered 28 items this morning,” Mr Kenny said.
“Before we got to another item, we didn’t have time to get through it.”
The Taoiseach added that he was still hopeful the new law limiting the ban on abortion would come into effect before the Dáil summer recess in July – as planned.
He said it was about giving clarity to the law and saving the lives of women and their unborn babies.
Finance Minister Michael Noonan confirmed the Cabinet did not have enough time to fully discuss the issue this morning, the meeting overran and had to be adjourned.
He said ministers had been given another hour from around 5.20pm to complete their talks.
The Fine Gael minister insisted discussions so far had been amicable and that the Government planned on publishing the draft legislation tonight.
“It’s just an interesting issue and because of the nature of the issue, most Cabinet ministers wanted to contribute and the discussion is ongoing,” Mr Noonan said.
“But it will be resolved and it’s a very amicable discussion, but it’s quite complex and intricate as well with constitutional issues and the decision of the European Court of Human Rights being part of the contributory information.”
Mr Noonan said it was now just a matter of process and that once published, the draft laws would be considered by the Oireachtas Committee on Health.
The minister added that there had been no differences of opinion in Cabinet, but he would not rule out further friction down the line when the draft legislation is brought to the Oireachtas committee and there is opportunity for a full discussion.
The Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children meets on Thursday, when members are expected to discuss the first stage of legislation. The meeting is to be held in private to decide when and how to hold hearings to consult on the reforms.
Jerry Buttimer, Fine Gael TD and chairman of the committee, said it may call on experts in law, medicine and psychiatry to give further evidence on the changes to legislation.
“They will make recommendations back to the Cabinet and then the Cabinet will clear it for actually drafting the text of the bill, so that’s what’s envisaged,” he said.
He insisted that no one has seen any of the draft legislation yet, but he looks forward to a full debate on the issue.
The issue of suicide as grounds for abortion within the legislation has caused friction within the coalition, and within the Fine Gael party.
Last week, TDs were divided over speculation that the new law would provide for six psychiatrists to be drafted in to assess suicidal women seeking an abortion.
It is understood there will be some clause in the bill to allow for a doctor to take account of a woman’s mental well being before a decision is taken on whether an abortion should be allowed. It is not yet known how many doctors could be involved in the decision.
The Government committed to reforming the ban on abortion by July following the death of Savita Halappanavar in a Galway hospital last year after being denied a termination during miscarriage.
A European court ruling also found that a woman in remission from cancer should not have been forced to travel overseas for an abortion.
