Irish Government Agrees on Abortion Legislation For Women Whose Lives Are at Risk

(PRESS RELEASE) The Irish government published yesterday the Protection of Life during Pregnancy Bill 2013, new abortion legislation designed, if adopted, to provide doctors and individuals with legal clarity about the circumstances under which a woman whose life is at risk may legally end a pregnancy.   While advocates from the Center for Reproductive Rights commended the Irish government for clarifying the circumstances under which abortion is legal in Ireland, there is still much more to be done to fulfill women’s fundamental human rights to health and reproductive autonomy.   Said Nancy Northup, President and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights:   “While Ireland has taken an important step towards clarifying the criteria for legal abortion, we are disappointed that the Taoiseach and the Irish Cabinet did not take this opportunity to further expand women’s access to safe and legal abortion.   “If this legislation is adopted, women and doctors will still be under threat of imprisonment and outrageously long prison sentences for ending a pregnancy outside the extremely narrow scope of the law.   “Essential reproductive health care is a fundamental human right, not a crime.”   On paper, abortion has been legal in Ireland in exceptional circumstances since 1992 for women suffering from life-threatening diseases, including ectopic pregnancy, and in cases where a woman is at risk of suicide. But an absence of regulations on the procedure has made abortion under these circumstances virtually impossible to access in practice. This has led women to seek abortions outside of the country or—for women who do not have the means to travel abroad—to continue with their pregnancies, putting their health and lives at risk. The new bill seeks to clarify the conditions for legal abortion, as called for by the European Court of Human Rights in a 2010 judgment. An initial outline of the bill was published on April 30. After six weeks of deliberations, Taoiseach Enda Kelly and the Irish Cabinet have reached an agreement on the bill language.   The draft legislation states that two doctors will have to confirm whether there is a physical threat to the life of the pregnant woman. In medical emergencies, one doctor will suffice to certify that a termination is justified.   For pregnant women who are at risk of suicide, the bill sets forth that three doctors—a woman’s obstetrician and two psychiatrists—must verify their condition before they will be entitled to an abortion. The so-called “suicide exception” has stirred much debate in Ireland preceding the bill, with opponents to abortion suggesting outrageously that abortion for women at risk of suicide will “open the floodgates” to “abortion on demand.”   The bill allows 25 hospitals in Ireland to perform legal abortions, but includes a provision that will allow the Minister of Health permission to suspend any of these hospitals from doing so if they are found to be breaking the law.  It also contains a measure that allows medical staff to deny abortions based on their personal and religious objections. In those circumstances the woman would be transferred to another medical provider. However, when there is an imminent danger to the life of the woman, medical staff must perform a legal abortion regardless of their personal objections.   Inclusion of provisions allowing for personal and religious objections among reproductive health providers is troubling, especially since the bill does not provide for comprehensive regulation and oversight of this practice. As seen in many other countries, the mere obligation of an objector to transfer a woman to another provider is by no means sufficient to ensure that she will access lawful services and be treated speedily and with due respect for her rights and her dignity. Human rights bodies have repeatedly expressed concern over inadequate regulation of personal objections.   According to the bill, doctors who perform abortions outside of the narrow scope of the law, and women who undergo the procedure in these circumstances, are subject to prosecution and up to 14 years’ imprisonment. International standards are clear: criminalization of women having abortions violates human rights law.   As shown repeatedly, not least in the tragic case of Savita Halappanavar—who died in Galway, Ireland, in October 2012 when she was refused a potentially life-saving abortion—a legal regime that allows abortion only when the woman’s life is threatened, as distinct from her health, often is unworkable and dangerous in practice. The new bill does not allow for abortion when there is a serious health risk. Human rights and international medical standards establish that abortion should be legal at the very least when the life or health of the woman is in danger, and also when the pregnancy is the result of a criminal act, or in cases of serious fetal anomaly.   Said Johanna Westeson, regional director for Europe at the Center for Reproductive Rights:   “This law will do nothing to help women who seek to end their pregnancies for many other perfectly legitimate reasons beside a threat to their lives. This includes women who are pregnant due to rape or incest, who are carrying fetuses with severe anomalies, and who face other serious risks to their health.   “Ireland will still have one of the most restrictive abortion laws in Europe, to the detriment of women’s right to health, dignity, and self-determination.”