An important test for abortion law came in 1992. A 14-year-old rape victim who became pregnant told a court she was considering suicide because she was forced to carry her rapist`s baby. The judge ruled that the threat to her life was not so great as to warrant allowing an abortion. This decision prohibited her from leaving Ireland for nine months, effectively forcing her to carry her pregnancy to term. “Decriminalize abortion in all circumstances and review its legislation to ensure children`s access to safe abortion and follow-up services; and ensure that the views of the pregnant girl are always heard and respected in abortion decisions. Amanda Mellet became pregnant in 2011; However, the fetus suffered from Edwards syndrome, a fatal disease. She could not have an abortion in Ireland and had to travel to Britain. In 2016, she brought a case before the United Nations Human Rights Committee and, in Mellet v. Ireland, it concluded that the Irish abortion bill violated the United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and called for reform of the law.

[62] The Irish government paid him €30,000 in compensation. [63] [24] Much of the impetus for the 2018 referendum is attributed to Savita Halappanavar, who died of sepsis in a Galway hospital while missing her fetus. Although they knew the growing threat to their lives and knew that the fetus would not survive, doctors refused to perform an abortion as long as the fetus had a heartbeat. When the heartbeat stopped a few days later, Halappanavar`s organs had begun to shut down and she died shortly after. In August 1997, a 13-year-old girl was raped and pregnant. She was suicidal because of pregnancy, and the Supreme Court ruled in Case C that the Eastern Health Board could arrange her travel to the UK for an abortion against her parents` wishes. [41] [42] Fiona de Londras, professor of global legal studies at the University of Birmingham in the UK, told me that Irish authorities would question women on ferries and airports “if they look young and pregnant.” If you`ve been pregnant in Ireland, you may not have access to medical care that could potentially affect the fetus, even for something like cancer, de Londras said. “The only thing the woman was entitled to from the state was that she did not die at the end of the pregnancy,” she said. “Apart from that, the state`s obligation to the fetus was.” The new law only allows abortion under the following circumstances: Ireland`s anti-abortion laws were among the most restrictive in the world.2 From 1983 to 2018, “the right to life of the unborn” was equal to the “right to life of the mother,” and the state was empowered to “defend and defend this right.” This was enshrined in the Eighth Amendment to the Irish Constitution, which was approved by two-thirds of voters in a referendum in 1983. In addition, under Irish law, performing or obtaining an abortion was punishable by up to 14 years` imprisonment.

If the U.S. Supreme Court Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision, legalized abortion in the United States, the nation could be on a similar path to the Irish people from 1983 to 2018. A draft decision signed by the majority of conservative justices was leaked in May 2022, suggesting the court could do just that. The Irish people voted for abortion to be a health issue, not a criminal act – but the law still criminalises anyone who helps a pregnant person obtain an abortion outside the provisions of the law, with a prison sentence of up to 14 years. This contradicts the spirit of repealing the 8th and contradicts best medical practices that advocate the complete decriminalization of abortion. Criminalisation could affect parents or partners who order abortion pills, as happened to the mother of a teenage girl charged in an ongoing case in Northern Ireland. The likely outcome will be that health professionals interpret the law very conservatively and patients are denied treatment. January 2016: The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) raises a number of concerns about the impact of Ireland`s abortion laws on girls` human rights.

In its closing remarks, the Government recommends: But the new Irish law also contains significant restrictions that impose significant barriers on abortion seekers. In March 2020, the UK government introduced a new legal framework for abortion services. The Abortion (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2020 allow access to abortions up to the 12th week of pregnancy (11 weeks + 6 days) without conditions that must be certified by a doctor that the pregnancy has not exceeded the twelfth week. Abortions after the 12th. Pregnancy weeks are legal in some cases, although severe fetal impairment and fatal fetal abnormalities are noted. The HSE has an unplanned pregnancy support service called My Options to provide information on current pregnancies and access to abortions in Ireland. A system designed with those least in access to medical care in mind would certainly lead to a system that decriminalizes abortion and focuses on the autonomy of pregnant people, rather than one that introduces requirements for multiple visits and medical checkpoints for decision-making. Ireland`s abortion reform shows us the power of pro-choice activism to change the political status quo. But the resulting law also shows us the dangers of an abortion law that allows access to some and imposes restrictions on others. A 1988 case against a group of clinics that offered abortion counseling made it illegal for anyone to counsel or support a woman who wanted to travel abroad for an abortion.

Some women circumvented these restrictions by travelling to the UK on “shopping trips”, while others died without the means or ability to travel because they were forced to carry a foetus. In 2014, Ms. Y, a suicidal refugee youth, was denied an abortion under the law. She went on hunger strike. The baby eventually delivered by caesarean section. [56] March 2017: A bill for private MPs to reduce the maximum penalty for abortion outside the provisions of the 2013 law from 14 years in prison to a fine of 1 euro is rejected in the Dáil. A government counter-motion states that the Citizens` Assembly can conclude its deliberations on the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution before considering further a possible amendment to the law.