Ireland to hold referendum on abortion in late May

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Ireland will hold a referendum in May on whether to relax the country’s strict law on abortion, Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar announced Monday night.

Since 1983, the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution has given equal rights to life for both the mother and the unborn child. The law was changed in 2013 to allow terminations when the mother's life is at risk, but Irish women can still not seek an abortion at home for other reasons, and thousands travel abroad every year, mainly to England, for the procedure.

Varadkar, a former medical doctor and Ireland’s first openly gay prime minister, said Monday: "We have abortion in Ireland, but it is unsafe, unregulated and unlawful, and in my opinion we cannot export our problems and import our solutions."

Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar speaks at a news conference announcing a referendum on liberalizing abortion laws at the end of May, in Dublin, Ireland, January 29, 2018. /VCG Photo‍

The referendum, which will be held at the end of May, will ask voters whether they wish to repeal the Eighth Amendment and allow parliament to write the law on the issue. The exact date for the vote has yet to be set.

"I know this will be a difficult decision for the Irish people to make," said Varadkar. "It is a very personal and private issue and for most of us, it's not a black and white issue.”

He added however there needed to be “a balance between the rights of a pregnant woman and the foetus or unborn."

If the Amendment is dropped, the government will start drafting a new law allowing abortions up to 12 weeks into a pregnancy, Varadkar said.

A traditionally staunchly Catholic country, Ireland nevertheless voted in 2015 to legalize same-sex marriage, a move observers said showed the Church's lessening influence.

(With input from agencies)

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