Irish cabinet agrees terms of new abortion bill Mrs Halappanavar's condition deteriorated and she died after developing septicaemia four days after the death of her baby. The Irish government decided to repeal legislation making abortion a criminal act, and to introduce regulations on when doctors can perform a termination when a woman's life is regarded as being at risk, including by suicide. Government sources told the Irish Times that the provisions of the bill had been made stricter for threatened suicide. Sources told the newspaper that terminations would only be allowed "to eliminate the risk of self-destruction" in cases where a woman was threatening suicide, and that would mean the proposed law did not lead to "abortion on demand." Ireland's abortion laws are the strictest in Europe and the proposed legislation has led to heated debate in the Roman Catholic country. Under current Irish law abortion is criminal unless it occurs as the result of a medical intervention performed to save the life of the mother. The Irish Roman Catholic Church has strongly condemned proposed legislation to liberalise abortion as a move to "licence the direct and intentional killing of the innocent baby." The Irish Council for Civil Liberties has welcomed the decision and called on the government to go further, making lawful the termination of pregnancies involving fatal foetal abnormalities.