[JURIST] The Irish Parliament on Thursday defeated a bill that would have allowed abortion in Ireland where the child would not survive outside of the womb. Prime Minister Enda Kenny [official profile] had been open about his opposition [AFP report] to the bill, calling it “bad for women and medically inadequate,” and instructed his Fine Gael party members to vote against the bill. The bill was defeated in a 95-45 vote. Mike Wallace, the bill’s proponent, stated that he wanted the bill’s constitutionality under the Eighth Amendment [materials] tested in the country’s Supreme Court [official website]. All abortions are illegal in Ireland, except where there is a “real and substantial risk to the life of the mother,” and any woman having an illegal abortion can be sentenced up to 14 years in prison. Due to these restrictions, women in Ireland have taken to traveling to England to have abortions. The vote comes after the UN issued a statement last month that an Irish woman suffered “inhuman treatment” [JURIST report] while seeking an abortion.

Abortion access and reproductive healthcare [JURIST backgrounder] remain contentious issues worldwide. In April Polish citizens protested a possible total abortion ban [JURIST report] following the suggestion of the ruling legislative party’s president. The ruling conservative Law and Justice party wanted to bring the country’s abortion policies in line with the Catholic Church’s views on the practice. The High Court of Justice in Northern Ireland in November ruled [judgment] that Northern Ireland’s abortion laws, which only allow abortion when the mother faces the risk of death or serious injury, are a violation of human rights [JURIST report]. According to an Amnesty International report released the same month, El Salvador’s complete ban on abortion negatively affects [JURIST report] not only women and girls, but also their families. A Dominican court in December blocked [JURIST report] a new law that would have decriminalized abortion if a pregnant woman’s life was at risk, thus reinstating a total ban on abortion within the country.