15/11/2012

'Legal Clarity' Called For On Abortion Issue

It is time to bring legal clarity to the area of medical terminations, Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore has said.

Speaking in the Dáil on Thursday, Mr Gilmore also said that he and the Taoiseach would be receiving copies of the report from the expert group on abortion.

The 14-member expert group has made recommendations based on a European Court of Human Rights judgment that the State failed to implement existing rights to lawful abortion where a mother's life is at risk.

Once reviewed the Tánaiste said the government will consider whether the report should be published, but added that there are a range of complex issues that need to be considered.

The Labour leader was responding to Sinn Féin's Mary Lou McDonald, who said that Ireland was the only jurisdiction on earth where urgency is defined by 20 years.

(H)


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