Ahern defends 'honest attempt' to resolve abortion debate

The proposed constitutional amendment being decided in the forthcoming referendum on abortion is an "honest attempt" to solve a decade-long debate on the issue, the Taoiseach said today.

Mr Bertie Ahern also said it would also remove confusion as to the legal status of emergency contraception such as the morning-after pill.

Speaking at the Fianna Fáil National Women’s Forum in Dublin, the party's leader said he hoped the referendum would "resolve the complexities which have surrounded the debate on abortion for at least the past ten years".

The Taoiseach told the conference he believed the amendment would protect women by ensuring doctors were allowed provide any medical treatment necessary to save lives, and that no doctor need ever be unsure about what was permitted in such cases.

He said the unborn would equally be protected because it would ensure abortion "will continue to be illegal in Ireland unless the people choose to change the law".

"There has been a lot of criticism of the Government’s proposal, but none of it stands up to scrutiny," Mr Ahern told delegates.

He said the two High Court judgements in favour of the Government’s intended method of altering the Constitution and the support of two eminent psychiatrists on the issue of suicide backed up his stance.

Mr Ahern also quoted a recent report by the Institute of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists that rejected "ill-informed" statements on the risk to women’s health that serve only to "cause needless anxiety among women".