The Irish government has agreed to hold a referendum at the end of May on whether to reform the country's near-total ban on abortion. The vote will decide whether to repeal a constitutional amendment that effectively bans terminations.
Currently, abortion is only allowed when a woman's life is at risk, but not in cases of rape, incest or fatal foetal abnormality.
Prime Minister Leo Varadkar has said that he will campaign for reform.
The ballot will not be on specific terms of any new law, but on whether to retain or repeal article 40.3.3 of the constitution, known as the Eighth Amendment. The amendment, which was approved by a 1983 referendum, "acknowledges the right to life of the unborn" - meaning the life of the woman and her unborn child are seen as equal.
Before the vote, the country's health minister will draft legislation proposing unrestricted abortion access be made available to women up to 12 weeks, and in exceptional circumstances after. An exact date for the referendum will be decided after it is debated in the Irish parliament.
Campaigners have long called for the laws to be changed, and last year a special cross-party parliamentary committee and citizens assembly both recommended repealing the amendment. Leo Varadkar, the country's former health minister, acknowledged that thousands of women in the country travelled every year for terminations or took pills ordered online at home. He said the current law meant that abortions in Ireland were "unsafe, unregulated and illegal"
Source : BBC
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