The Cabinet sub-committee on abortion is expected to recommend that the "morning-after pill" be legalised. The emergency contraceptive is available over the counter in British pharmacies but it is not licensed for sale here, even on prescription.
Last year, the Irish Medicines Board (IMB) told a pharmaceutical company, seeking a licence for a drug to be taken after unprotected intercourse, that the drug appeared to act as an abortifacient. The application was withdrawn.
The Cabinet sub-committee has been primarily discussing the issue of an abortion referendum. However it has also looked at ways to reduce the number of crisis pregnancies, examining the report on abortion of the All-Party Oireachtas Committee on the Constitution.
That committee, chaired by a Fianna Fail TD, Mr Brian Lenihan, said in its report that it attached "importance to the general availability" of the pill. "The availability of the morning-after pill can help to reduce the number of crisis pregnancies. Any legal uncertainties that may exist in regard to it should be removed."
Last year the IMB said it had advised the manufacturers of Levonelle-2 that its understanding was that the drug was an abortifacient. The Irish Family Planning Association said the board was mistaken. The drug was licensed in 13 EU states under regulations governing contraception rather than abortion.
An IMB spokeswoman told The Irish Times the licence had been sought in June last year and there had been a question over the drug's "abortive nature". She said the IMB had referred the matter to a senior counsel.
According to the report of the all-party committee, the Family Planning Act 1979 specifically prohibits the importation, sale and distribution of abortifacients. "In as much as the morning-after pill is available and prescribed, the legal presumption must be that it is not regarded as an abortifacient," said the report.
At present women seeking emergency post-coital contraception are prescribed Ovram, a strong oestrogen and progesterone-based contraceptive, taken as a daily contraception by some women, which is not licensed as a morning-after pill.
The sub-committee is chaired by the Minister for Health, Mr Martin. Other members are the Minister for Justice, Mr O'Donoghue; the Minister for Public Enterprise, Ms O'Rourke; the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Ms Liz O'Donnell, and the Attorney General, Mr Michael McDowell.