Vote Planned on Right to Abort Risky Pregnancies

Irish voters will decide whether to amend their constitution to allow abortions in cases where women's lives are endangered, the government announced.

The government says the March referendum will resolve issues left by a 1992 Supreme Court ruling allowing abortion only in very restrictive circumstances.

Prime Minister Bertie Ahern's proposed amendment would allow abortions only when a woman's life was in physical danger from a pregnancy.

The threat of suicide would be ruled out as grounds for an abortion, reversing the 1992 decision.