The Church of Ireland has welcomed the fact that the Government “has
taken the decision to bring clarity to bear on the issue of abortion
under certain circumstances” .
In a statement, the Archbishop of
Dublin, Michael Jackson, said: “We fully recognise that any decision
which, in respect of a woman’s health, results in a termination is a
terribly weighty one.
“Our hope would also be that appropriate
clarity will facilitate those who are practitioners in the field, namely
nurses, doctors and others, as well as parents.”
The Church of
Ireland, he noted, had “recently restated in public that it stands with
the notion of ‘real and substantial risk’ to the life of the mother in
making decisions on terminations of pregnancies”.
He said “in our
opinion the measure of the legislation will be in how the assessment of
‘real and substantial risk’ is handled, not least in the context of
suicide. We look forward to contributing our perspective during the
period of consultation. We further feel that authoritative guidance on
this subject is urgently needed.”