1st LD: Ireland to hold referendum on abortion laws by May

DUBLIN, Jan. 30 (Xinhua) -- Ireland will hold a referendum on its abortion laws by the end of May, Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar announced here Monday night.

The announcement came at a press conference after a cabinet meeting had formally approved a referendum on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland, which virtually forbids abortions in the country.

Varadkar said the referendum will ask citizens whether they want to retain the amendment or enable the Dail, the lower house of the Irish parliament, to make a new law that will allow abortion in hospitals up to 12 weeks of pregnancy.

The Eighth Amendment recognizes the equal right to the life of the mother and the fetus. It was signed into law one month after a referendum in September 1983 with nearly 67 percent voting against abortions.

"We have abortion in Ireland, but it is unsafe, unregulated and unlawful, and in my opinion we cannot export our problems and import our solutions," Varadkar said.

Abortion in Ireland is illegal unless performed to save the life of the expecting mother. Many Irish women have to travel to other countries for abortion or source abortion pills from abroad online.

In recent times, however, an increasing number of people have been supporting a more liberalized abortion law. Enditem