Four members of Fine Gael, the main government party, defied the party whip by voting against the bill and now face automatic expulsion from the parliamentary party.
Sinn Fein TD Peadar Toibin also voted against the government's proposal in defiance of his party
Anti-abortion campaigners believe the bill will lead to more widespread abortion, while many on the pro-choice side say the legislation is too restrictive in only allowing a termination where there is a credible threat of suicide
Prime Minister Enda Kenny, however, insisted the country’s constitutional ban on abortion would remain unaffected
Note
The debate around Ireland’s stringent anti-abortion laws was reignited following the death of Savita Halappanavar(31)who died from septicaemia following a miscarriage in October 2012
Savitha Halappanavar's inquest in April 2013 heard how she was repeatedly denied a potentially life-saving abortion.
Ireland’s laws on abortion commit the government to
defend the life of the unborn and the mother equally. But it has been
muddled since 1992, when the Supreme Court ruled that this ban actually
meant that terminations should be legal if doctors deem an abortion
essential to safeguard the life of the woman, including from her own
suicide threats.
6 previous governments refused to
pass a law in support of the Supreme Court judgement, citing its
suicide-threat rule as open to abuse.
The current Irish government has been under pressure to
pass a law on life-saving abortions ever since the European Court of
Human Rights ruled in 2011 that Ireland’s inaction forced women to face
unnecessary medical dangers.
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