Desperate women and their helpers will face harsh prison sentences if the abortion referendum is passed, according to a group of lawyers.
The recently established independent group of solicitors and barristers from across the country - Lawyers Against the Amendment - is calling for a No vote in the referendum on March 6th.
Condemning the 12-year jail sentence provided for in the proposed constitutional amendment, convenor of the group, Ms Aoife Goodman said it provides a very severe criminal sanction for those women desperate enough to try to abort themselves and for anyone who assists them.
"Unlike any other crime, both the definition of abortion and the penalties for it will be contained in a piece of legislation which has constitutional status, so that any attempts to change the penalties would have to be put to the people in another referendum," she said.
"At present, the only other crime defined in the constitution is treason," she said.
Ms Goodman also rejected claims made yesterday by the Masters of Dublin Maternity hospitals that the legality of life-saving treatment involving termination of pregnancy is doubtful at present.
"The decision in the X case makes it clear that a termination is permissible where it is necessary to avert a real and substantial risk to a woman’s life, whether the root of that risk is physical or mental.
"There is no question of a doctor acting illegally because he or she terminates a pregnancy in order to avoid such a risk," she said.
