Nothing as It Seems

Ireland will have a referendum on whether abortion should be permitted on 25th May. A referendum has to be held in order to alter the constitution. In 1983 voters approved of the Eighth Amendment – which created a constitutional recognition that gives equal status to the unborn and the mother – but requests to have it repealed have been steadily increasing in the past number years. In January, the Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar,  said   Ireland’s abortion laws are “too restrictive and need to be reformed”. If the amendment is repealed, the government may introduce legislation permitting unrestricted abortion up to 12 weeks of pregnancy. At present, terminations are only permissible when the life of the mother is at risk, and under law anyone who seeks an abortion could potentially face 14 years in prison. Opponents of abortion, to be sure, see this as a moral horror, but the 12-week limit being proposed is fairly similar   to abortion laws across Europe. Abortion is availab