Ireland -Protection of Life During pregnancy Bill 2013
Protection of Life During pregnancy Bill 2013 :
- Savita Halappanavar suffered a fatal miscarriage in October 2012 after being denied the abortion she requested.
- Members of the Irish Parliament’s lower house, the Dáil Éireann, passed the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill, 2013, which allows medical practitioners to terminate a pregnancy if it poses a “substantial” or “immediate” risk to the mother’s life.
- Nevertheless, the law is still some distance away from embracing a ‘pro-choice’ approach: an amendment introduced by women TDs that would have permitted the termination of pregnancies arising from rape or incest failed to win support in the Dáil.
- Roman Catholic Church is staunchly opposed to abortion.
- Latin America’s record on this count has been abysmal. Six countries in the region still endorse a blanket ban on abortion
- Ireland adopted a long-awaited law to allow abortion under limited circumstances after President Michael D. Higgins gave his assent to the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill passed by Parliament recently.
