The divisive issue of abortion, which has polarised Irish society for almost two decades, is back centre stage with the publication of the Government's Green Paper yesterday. The 172-page document, insofar as it goes, is a comprehensive, factual and objective presentation of the constitutional, legal, medical and moral ambiguities surrounding abortion since the Supreme Court ruled in the unfortunate circumstances of the X case in 1992 that the supposedly antiabortion amendment of 1983 made abortion lawful in certain limited circumstances.
Some seven possible constitutional and legislative options are outlined by the Government to address the Supreme Court's decision that abortion is permissible in this State where there is a real and substantial risk to the life, as distinct from the health, of the mother, including a risk of suicide. They range from an absolute ban on abortion to permitting abortion on grounds beyond those specified in the X case. Two of the seven options have been tried, and failed, in the past.
The Green Paper accepts that the difficulty of arriving at an acceptable wording to provide for a constitutional prohibition on abortion should not be underestimated. In the only hint of its thinking, the document states that the wording put forward in the 1992 referendum on the "substantive issue of abortion" reflected the government's view that, however remote, the possibility of an abortion being necessary in order to save the life of a pregnant woman could not be ruled out and that a distinction as between direct and indirect abortion could not therefore serve as the basis for a constitutional provision. The Green Paper also notes that the proposal to restrict the application of the X case to remove the risk of suicide was rejected by the electorate.
For all of the detail, however, the Green Paper offers no solution to the abortion quagmire. The current legal and political ambiguity is a classic example of the "Irish solution" to an Irish problem and the Government's decision to delay the obvious and necessary action by referring it to yet another committee is only adding to that discredited species.
The manner in which the Green Paper was published - disseminated through the Government Information Services rather than the traditional formal launch by a Minister - serves to illustrate, once again, the distaste and inertia with which the Government is fulfilling its pre-election promise to address the abortion issue. The All-Party Committee on the Constitution is being asked to embark on another consultative process but, most notably, no time limit is being put on its task. There is more kicking to touch.
The purpose of the Green Paper, according to the Government statement accompanying it, is to seek the broadest possible consensus on the way forward. But, if the four abortion referendums and X and C cases have taught us anything over the last two decades, it is that a broad consensus will not be achieved on abortion. Indeed, the early indicators from the Opposition parties are that a consensus could elude the Dail.
The constitutional, legal, medical, moral, social and ethical complexities of abortion have been rehearsed and replayed ad infinitum since Dr Garret FitzGerald introduced the word "zygote" into the political vocabulary in the early 1980s. At least 6,000 Irish women travel to England for abortions each year. We export the problem. The undeniable fact is that abortion is lawful in limited circumstances in this State since 1992. It is time for the Government to legislate for the general parameters of the X case. We must confront reality.