Ireland’s government says it will introduce law spelling out right to life-saving abortions

DUBLIN – Ireland’s government says it will draft a new law spelling out the right of women to receive abortions in cases where the pregnancy poses a risk to their lives — including from a woman’s own threats to commit suicide.

For two decades, successive governments have resisted passing any law in support of a 1992 Supreme Court judgment that such abortions should be legal in Ireland.

Catholic conservatives particularly oppose the suicide-threat justification, arguing it could be used to expand access to abortion beyond relatively rare cases where a pregnancy endangers a woman’s life.

Tuesday’s announcement follows international uproar over the October death of a miscarrying Indian woman in an Irish hospital.

Her widower said she was denied a prompt termination because the fetus had a heartbeat.