DUBLIN — The Irish government proposed legislation late Tuesday night that, if approved as expected, would allow abortions in cases where a threat existed to a woman's life, including from suicide.
Although the proposal has set off a heated debate, the prime minister, Enda Kenny, has argued that it would not alter Ireland's restrictive abortion laws.
"This bill restates the general prohibition on abortion in Ireland," Mr. Kenny said at a news conference on Wednesday before the Protection of Life During Pregnancy bill was introduced. "The law on abortion in Ireland is not being changed."
His assurances did little to persuade the country's powerful anti-abortion movement. The conservative Youth Defense group branded Mr. Kenny "The Abortion Taoiseach" — the Irish word for prime minister or leader — and vowed to step up its campaign to pressure members of his center-right Fine Gael party to oppose the bill.
"Enda Kenny's claim that this legislation is restrictive is seriously undermined by the experience of other countries, such as Britain, where mental health clauses were roundly abused," said a spokeswoman for Youth Defense, Claire Molloy.
While a substantial number of Fine Gael members have misgivings about the suicide clause, Mr. Kenny has ruled out a free vote on the bill, which Parliament is expected to enact before the summer recess.
The proposed legislation would allow for the termination of a pregnancy in cases where there is a real and substantive threat to the life of the woman, including from suicide. The government says the bill gives legal effect to rights that already exist as a result of a landmark Supreme Court judgment in 1992, known as the X Case.
Under the new proposals, a single doctor would be able to approve an abortion in an emergency situation. When a pregnant woman's life is at risk but the threat is not imminent, two medical practitioners — including one obstetrician or gynecologist — would have to sign off before the procedure could take place.
A woman citing the possibility of suicide as a reason for seeking an abortion would have to obtain approval from two psychiatrists and an obstetrician.
The government was prodded to action by the Council of Europe, which has pressured a succession of Irish governments to enact legislation to ensure that women's limited rights to abortion were actually carried out in practice.
Equally important, the uproar following the death of an Indian-born woman, Savita Halappanavar, in a Galway hospital in October reignited the entire abortion debate. Dr. Halappanavar, 31, a dentist who lived near Galway, was informed by her doctors that they were legally constrained from carrying out her repeated requests for a lifesaving termination of her nonviable fetus because the heart was still beating.
Irish commentators point out that the government may also have been emboldened by the waning influence of the Roman Catholic Church, which has been battered by a succession of sexual abuse cases against members of the clergy.
In a parliamentary debate after the release of the draft legislation, Clare Daly, a Socialist, said that the bill did not go far enough and that it would ensure that Irish women — 4,500 a year, by most estimates — would continue to travel every year to Britain for abortions.
Other commentators expressed disappointment that the proposals did not extend an automatic right to abortion under other categories, like rape or when a fetus has no chance of survival. At present, women who know their child will not survive outside the womb are forced to carry it to full term.
However, Mr. Kenny said any such proposals would be beyond the scope of the X Case and would require a referendum to change the Constitution.
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