Women should be legally entitled to have abortions in Ireland in limited circumstances, including situations where there is a risk of suicide, a Labour Party review group has recommended to the party's annual conference.
In a report to this weekend's Killarney conference, a committee led by Mr James Wrynne recommended that Labour support legislation to govern the availability of abortion, within the scope of the Constitution.
The legislation should allow for abortion if the mother is at risk of suicide, if her pregnancy poses a risk of "significant injury", or if the foetus has no chance of being born alive.
However, the committee proposed that Labour keep its options open if any of this legislation was found to be unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.
"In the event of a constitutional challenge, the Labour Party would then consider such constitutional options as would then arise in the light of any judgment," the Wrynne report concludes.
In 2001, party delegates passed a motion by one vote advocating the availability of abortion in the State on the basis of a woman's right to choose.
Then, the party's leadership had urged delegates to accept a more simply worded motion, which would have opposed any referendum that would have overturned the X case judgment.
Noting that the issue was one "of deep personal conscience", the committee said Labour was "profoundly aware" that "a wide range of views" were held on the subject within its ranks.
The motion passed in 2001 made it clear that abortion should be made more freely available, but it did not specify circumstances.
"Brief conference motions of this kind give a general stance on this issue but cannot deal with complex issues such as abortion," the report said. Urging the party's general council to produce a detailed policy, the committee in Killarney said delegates in 2001 had "clearly" not supported the availability of abortion without restriction.
It said the policy document should consider options available in cases of rape, incest, and severe threat to the health of the mother, as well as the means to reflect the individual consciences of party members. The Wrynne committee's recommendations were drafted within the limitations of the existing constitutional position for "both practical and political reasons".
Labour has long argued that abortion is too complex for a referendum, or to be put into the Constitution, said the committee, which began its work last November. "This view is reinforced by divisiveness, lack of clarity and ultimate defeat of the two previous constitutional referendums on this matter," said the Wrynne report, which delegates will be asked to accept this weekend.
The Labour Party's legal advice is that "while the matter is not entirely free from doubt, legislation would probably be considered constitutional on a range of grounds beyond those that currently apply".
The existing constitutional wording does not ban abortion absolutely, since the unborn are protected only "as far as practicable", and the rights of the unborn are subject to due regard for the rights of the mother.
The Oireachtas could legally protect doctors from prosecution for abortions carried out to protect a woman's health, or to terminate pregnancies where the foetus has no chance of survival.
The recommendations might "appear to diverge from existing jurisprudence", but the committee noted that the X case judgment had been decided in a "complete legislative vacuum".
"The enactment of legislation to reconcile the various constitutional values involved would fundamentally change the context in which the courts would consider the issue.
"In that changed context we are of the view that the narrow reading given to the constitutional provision in the absence of such legislation would no longer be decisive," it said.
Besides Mr Wrynne, the others sitting on the committee were: Ms Mary Flynn, Mr Ciairín De Buis, Mr Proinsias De Rossa, Ms Róisín Shortall, Mr Michael McLoughlin and Ms Linda Doyle.
A member of the party's National Women's Council, Ms Doyle was one of those who vigorously supported the right to choose motion in 2001.
