AN IRISH member of the Council of Europe intends to put forward an amendment against a resolution in favour of legalising abortion in Ireland.
Fianna Fáil senator Terry Leyden says he will table the amendment against a proposal by the council's Committee on Equal Opportunity, due be discussed at the full session of the council's parliamentary assembly on April 16th.
The draft resolution by the committee would "invite member states to decriminalise abortion if they have not already done so".
Mr Leyden was one of three members who earlier this month voted against debating the abortion resolution at the assembly. However, a majority (21) voted in favour and one abstained.
Mr Leyden says he "strongly opposed the adoption of the report and resolution by the committee on the grounds that it was incompatible with Ireland's current constitutional, legal and policy position".
However, even if the Council of Europe does vote to adopt the resolution, it will have no legal jurisdiction within Ireland because of the 1983 amendment to the Constitution, he says.
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