World Notes Ireland

The plight of a pregnant 14-year-old, allegedly molested and raped by her best friend's father, stirred an international furor when Irish authorities forbade her to seek an abortion abroad. Last week the Irish Supreme Court overturned a High Court ruling that had prevented her from traveling to Britain to escape Ireland's near absolute prohibition on abortion. The girl's circumstance -- and her reported threat to kill herself if forced to bear the child -- had pitched Prime Minister Albert Reynolds headlong into a no-win political crisis within a week of taking office. He therefore greeted last week's ruling with relief, saying he was glad "everything is over."

That sentiment, however, may prove to be wishful thinking. The court has yet to spell out the basis of its decision. A divisive tangle of legal and political problems remains, not the least of which is the question of what happens when the Irish constitutional ban on abortion runs afoul of freedom to move from country to country, guaranteed under European Community law. The episode has aroused enough debate that Reynolds and his government may find their future clouded by this incendiary issue.