The Labour Party and the Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) has come strongly against the Government’s proposed constitutional amendment on abortion.
In a statement this afternoon, the party's leader Mr Ruairi Quinn said the proposals are an attempt to overturn the Supreme Court ruling in the X case that allows for abortion when the woman’s life is under threat.
"The sole effect of this Bill is to dilute the constitutional right to life of pregnant women by limiting the grounds on which they can avail of medical procedures in Ireland," he said.
"The Labour Party supports the Government decision to establish an agency, in line with the recommendations of the All Party Committee to work with women with crisis pregnancies. But that is a separate and distinct matter from the holding of a further referendum," he added.
In a statement this evening, the ICCL described the amendment as the 1992 referendum revisited. "This is a regressive proposal in an area where progress is required. If accepted, girls and women who are pregnant and suicidal as a result of rape (like the two girls at the centre of the X and C cases) would be denied the right to terminate their pregnancies.
No amount of abortion amendments will prevent 6,500 Irish women per annum from obtaining abortion services elsewhere.