Michael Harty (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

This was a particularly Irish solution to an Irish problem.

The Protection of Life during Pregnancy Bill in 2013 redefined the circumstances in which termination could be administered or procured where there would be a real or substantive risk to the life of the mother, which included suicide. These were the only grounds on which a termination could be procured. This gave a statutory right for termination of pregnancy. In 2009 the Supreme Court defined life as that which had the capacity to be born. Article 40.3.3° only offered protection after implantation in the womb. These are all very restrictive definitions. Yet in 2013 the risk to the health of a mother was insufficient to justify a termination.

The UN Human Rights Committee advised that Ireland should review its termination requirements and add different reasons for termination - to save the life of the mother, which we have; to preserve a woman's physical health; to preserve a woman's mental health; in the cases of rape or incest; in the cases of fatal foetal abnormality; for social and economic reasons; and on request. This is the suite of options from which the UN recommended that Ireland should choose.

Termination for a social or economic reason or on request is a form of birth control in relation to pregnancy. In Britain termination was introduced to preserve a woman's physical or mental health, but that evolved into termination on demand.

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