The news that Ireland is to legalise abortions when the mother’s life is at risk, is two decades late and will make little practical difference to the vast majority of women in this difficult position, writes Cathy Newman.
It's a rare event when an FT
headline sets the pulses racing. When I used to work in the politics
team there, we used to joke that our scoops on the latest ministerial antics
had been knocked off the front page by hot news on a cement company merger
in Tasmania. But when I saw, in big, bold, black and white (or pink):
"Ireland to legalise abortion" I had to take a look.
Ireland is one of only two EU countries where women can't have an abortion -
despite five referendums on the subject since 1983. So the suggestion that
this was about to change was indeed front page news.
Of course, the story wasn't quite as interesting as the headline.
What
Ireland is proposing is simply to pass legislation to allow abortions where
a woman's life is at risk. Far from a new departure, this simply
implements a court ruling which should have been enshrined in law two
decades ago.
Let me explain. The Irish Supreme Court declared in 1992 that terminations
were legal in just such limited circumstances. It's all to do with the
so-called "X" case, where the authorities prevented a 14-year-old girl - who
became pregnant after being raped - from travelling abroad for an abortion.
The Supreme Court overturned the travel ban, ruling that abortion was legal
in Ireland where there was a risk to the mother's life - for example in the
"X" case, a risk of suicide.
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