Thousands march in Dublin against Irish abortion laws

Dublin : Thousands of demonstrators marched in Dublin on Saturday in favour of liberalising Ireland's tight abortion laws ahead of a planned referendum on the fiercely-debated issue.

Protesters chanted, "My body, my choice" and waved placards reading "Not the church, not the state: women should decide their fate", as they headed through the capital towards the parliament.

Linda Kavanagh, a spokeswoman from the Abortion Rights Campaign which organised the rally, told AFP: "The message today is 'time to act' because we've waited for a long time for a change.

"We want full repeal. We can't support exceptions and only a hundred people allowed to get access to abortion."

Keishia Taylor, a spokeswoman for the organisation ROSA (For Reproductive Rights, told AFP: "I think today is going to be a huge turnout, a turning point."

Campaigners were expecting 30,000 to attend, but the police declined to give a crowd estimate.

Abortion has always been illegal in Ireland and in 1983 an eighth amendment was added to the constitution after a referendum, giving equal rights to the life of the unborn child and the mother.

The law was changed three decades later to allow terminations when the mother's life is at risk, following public outrage at the death of a pregnant woman in 2012 who was refused an abortion.

In the face of mounting public pressure, Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar on Tuesday announced plans for a referendum on the issue to be held in May or June 2018, ahead of a visit by Pope Francis in August.