Taoiseach denies conflict with commission over status of pill

Fine Gael has called for the publication of the Attorney General's legal advice to the Government about the morning-after pill in an ongoing row about whether its legality will be safeguarded after the abortion referendum.

The party leader, Mr Michael Noonan, claimed the Taoiseach was still in conflict with the Referendum Commission about whether the pill and the IUD would be safeguarded after the referendum. The commission said the present constitutional position of such devices was open to doubt.

Mr Ahern insisted yesterday that there was no conflict. The Government's "strong and consistent legal view is that the constitutional position of the morning-after pill is not open to doubt, that it is fully compatible with Article 40.3.3 of the Constitution".

He also referred to "sensationalist reports" that women haemorrhaging from miscarriage would not receive care. "Women can rest assured that treatment in the event of miscarriage and ectopic pregnancies will not be affected by the legislation," he said.

In the row over the morning-after pill, Mr Noonan said the Taoiseach had assured him on Wednesday that "the commission was wrong and the Government was right". The commission yesterday reiterated its view that "there is no change in the constitutional status of the use of the IUD or morning-after pill", he said.

Labour's deputy leader, Mr Brendan Howlin, referred to a Fianna Fáil explanatory leaflet which stated that the use of emergency contraception such as the morning-after pill or postcoital IUD would be fully safeguarded in the referendum. However, the Referendum Commission "patently contradicts that view".

Mr Ahern said the acceptance or rejection of the referendum proposal "will not change its constitutional law status. There is, therefore, no question of a current or further infringement of the civil law".

Criminal law on abortion is dealt with under the Offence Against the Person Act of 1861, which is under legal challenge.

Mr Ahern said the proposed Protection of Human Life in Pregnancy Act would have a definition of abortion "which will prevent any case being made that the morning-after pill will be termed an abortifacient or subject to criminal sanction".

Mr Noonan said the Referendum Commission was independent and "whether the current criminal law outlaws the morning-after pill and similar devices is open to question. The present constitutional position of these devices is also open to doubt. However, the acceptance or rejection of the proposal will not change their constitutional status."

The Taoiseach pointed to the Commission's comment that "it is clear that using the morning-after pill is not abortion in the criminal sense under the Human Life in Pregnancy Act". He said there had been some doubts about criminal law but "the new law will ensure the use of the morning-after pill will no longer come within the scope of criminal law".