Girl carrying ailing foetus in Ireland

From The Times
May 4, 2007
Girl carrying ailing foetus tests Ireland's abortion ban

David Sharrock, Ireland Correspondent

A pregnant teenager will learn today if she has won the right to travel to England for an abortion when an Irish court makes a landmark ruling on the Republic's controversial abortion laws. The case could erupt into a constitutional crisis.

The 17-year-old, who cannot be named and is identified only as Miss D, is in the care of Ireland's Health Service Executive (HSE), the Republic's equivalent of the NHS.

Four months pregnant, Miss D is seeking an abortion because her baby has a rare brain condition, anencephaly, which means part of the foetus's skull, scalp and brain is missing and the child is unlikely to survive for more than three days after birth.

Her harrowing dilemma has reopened a divisive debate over abortion in the first week of campaigning for the May 24 general election.
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The teenager's father is absent and she was removed from her mother's care earlier this year.

Miss D has been in the care of the HSE since February and the government agency has overruled her wish to travel to Britain for an abortion, which is still illegal in Ireland in all circumstances except if there is a real and substantial risk to the mother's life.

Because the girl has confirmed that she is not suicidal, the government agency overruled her request to travel to Britain for an abortion. The law does not permit abortion on the grounds of foetal abnormality.

The power of the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland may have waned, but its influence on the abortion issue is still strong. Previous cases have ended up at hearings in the European Court of Human Rights and forced a number of referendums to make amendments to the legislation.

Since 2002 three teenagers in care have been allowed to travel abroad and had their abortions paid for by the State.

Irish abortion law has never been clarified and in 1992 a Supreme Court judge warned that the failure to introduce proper legislation was "inexcusable" after the so-called "X Case" when a 14-year-old girl who became pregnant after being raped was barred from leaving the country for an abortion.

Last year a 45-year-old woman lost a case in Europe in which she said she had been denied her human rights because she could not have an abortion on grounds of foetal abnormality. The court dismissed her application saying that the issue had not yet been dealt with by the Irish courts.

Miss D's lawyers are seeking the removal of the restrictions on her right to leave Ireland and the rescinding of a request sent to the Gardai to prevent her travelling abroad.

Eoghan Fitzsimons, Senior Counsel for Miss D, told the High Court that the diagnosis of her baby's condition was distressing for her. The HSE's claim that under law she cannot travel would require her to carry the baby full term only for it to die.

Mr Fitzsimons said that Miss D would suffer mental and physical trauma and great discomfort, and rejected claims by a social worker that she had changed her mind about the abortion. He said Miss D accepted that she would have to continue with the pregnancy only if she lost the court battle.

The law

?- Irish abortion law is ambiguous and is often left for the courts to interpret

?- Abortion was originally outlawed in 1861. In 1945, the law was modified to state that abortion was not an offence if it was done to save the mother's life

?- After a referendum in 1983 the constitution was altered to say: "The State acknowledges the right to life of the unborn and, with due regard to the equal right to life of the mother, guarantees in its laws to respect and as far as practicable by its laws to defend and vindicate that right"

?- In 1992 the Supreme Court ruled in favour of a girl of 14 who was raped. She was allowed to travel to England for a termination amid fears for her wellbeing

?- Since then, successive governments have refused to introduce legislation confirming that judgment

?- In 2002 a constitutional amendment designed to remove the threat of suicide as legal grounds for an abortion was narrowly defeated in a referendum

?- About 7,000 Irish women travel to England each year for abortions

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