DUBLIN (AP) — A family planning charity says it is opening the first abortion clinic in Ireland, challenging decades of legal confusion over the extremely limited access to abortion in both parts of the island.
The Marie Stopes clinic due to open next week in Belfast, capital of the British territory of Northern Ireland, plans to offer non-surgical abortions to women whose pregnancies are less than nine weeks in gestation.
Women will receive medication that causes a miscarriage only if doctors determine that continued pregnancy would jeopardize their physical or mental health.
Anti-abortion activists say doctors should not receive leeway to authorize terminations on mental health grounds.
Abortions under such circumstances are supposed to be legal already in both parts of Ireland, but lawmakers have failed for decades to clarify the situation.
