In response to a report that the ‘draft heads’ of a bill for
the introduction of abortion in Ireland included assessment of requests for
abortion by a panel of six doctors, Labour Minister Pat Rabbitte, along with colleague Jan
O’Sullivan, said he would have serious concerns if draft legislation included a
proposal that six doctors would be required to assess if a threat of suicide by
a pregnant woman represented a real and substantial risk to her life.
Health Minister Dr James Reilly meanwhile is reported as saying “some people may have formed the wrong impression”. “The heads of the
bill are not finalised. They are still in process. It would not be appropriate
for me to discuss what is in them until they have been discussed at the
appropriate level which is cabinet,” he told reporters this morning.
Dr Reilly said after he brings the heads of the bill to
Government, they will go to the Oireachtas committee on health where the heads
can be discussed before the bill is finally drafted. “Obviously the drafting of
that bill will be very much informed by what happens at the Oireachtas
Committee,” he said.
Dr Reilly revealed it was his intention to bring it before
the cabinet tomorrow. He anticipated that were would be disagreements about it
at cabinet level, at the Oireachtas committee and even after the bill is
drafted.
“I want to reassure people that there will be no question of
a woman in distress with suicidal ideation being put through the sort of
interviewing process that we have heard about on the television and the radio,”
he explained.
“At the heart of this is a need for legislation to clarify
the situation for women who have to use the service and for doctors who have to
provide it.”
The Irish Times reported Monday April 22nd that Labour
leader and Tánaiste Éamon Gilmore has said the timetable for the introduction
of abortion legislation is on-track, but it is important that the content of
the legislation is right.
Speaking in Luxembourg this morning, where he is chairing a
meeting of EU ministers, the Tanaiste said the purpose of the legislation was to
“provide certainty to women and their medical practitioners.”
“We have a timetable which is to have this legislation dealt
with by the summer recess. We intend to keep to that deadline, but of course
it’s important that we get the content of the legislation right, because the
whole purpose of this legislation is to protect the lives of women, and to
provide certainty to women who find themselves in this situation.”
His comments come in the wake of reports that deep divisions
between the coalition partners on how to delay the suicide aspect of the law,
could delay tomorrow’s publication of draft abortion legislation.
High-level talks took place over the weekend involving the
offices of Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Mr Gilmore, as well as Minister for Health James
Reilly, in an effort to find a solution that would accommodate the dramatically
different viewpoints of the Labour Party and sections of Fine Gael on the
inclusion of a suicide threat as a ground for a legal termination.
