Dublin to tighten abortion wording

THE RISK of suicide may no longer be sufficient grounds for a woman to have a legal abortion, according to the Irish government's preferred wording for its abortion referendum, to be held early in December.

This was the ground on which, in March in the 'X' case, the Supreme Court ruled that a pregnant 14-year-old alleged rape victim was entitled to obtain a termination. Opposition leaders yesterday voiced their objections to this preferred wording in a series of meetings with Albert Reynolds, the Prime Minister.

The Progressive Democrats, the junior party in the ruling coalition, are also critical of the wording which would in effect return the country to the status quo prior to the March court ruling. Yesterday they were hoping opposition pressure could succeed in shifting Mr Reynolds' Fianna Fail party towards a less restrictive formula.

Three possible wordings were put to the Cabinet on Tuesday by a special sub-committee set up to resolve the crisis created by the Supreme Court judgment. Four of its five judges interpreted the 1983 constitutional amendment, giving the foetus an equal right to life with the mother, to mean abortion could be legal where the woman's life was at serious risk, a decision that infuriated the anti-abortion lobby and Catholic clergy.

The wording reportedly backed by the Fianna Fail majority in the Cabinet would outlaw abortion except as the unavoidable consequence of medical treatment necessitated by the physical, rather than the mental, condition of the mother. Opposition parties warned this phrasing would create its own problems, just as the 1983 amendment had in the 'X' case.

One alternative proposal would make abortion illegal except where necessary to save the life, as opposed to protecting the health, of the mother. The third would vary from the first in stating explicitly that a risk of suicide would not constitute acceptable grounds.

In the Dail yesterday Mr Reynolds said a final wording should be decided by the end of this week, following consultations with opposition parties. Their leaders said they could not meet his deadline and would need more time.

The Democratic Left said that to assume a woman's health 'means only physical factors is clearly contrary to the World Health Organisation's definition of health. Once you start writing these amendments into the constitution you're entering a legal and medical minefield.'

The draft proposal shown to opposition leaders read: 'It shall be unlawful to terminate the life of the unborn, unless such termination is necessary to save the life, as distinct from the health, of the mother, where there is an illness or disorder giving rise to a real and substantive risk to her life, not being a risk of self-destruction.'