"Draconian" Irish Abortion Ban Challenged In Human Rights Court

Irish abortion laws are “draconian” and breach the human rights of the mother, it has been claimed.

Women have been denied abortions even when their own life is at risk and when the health and safety of other children is compromised, and can lead to life imprisonment.

Three women are challenging this law in the European Court of Human Rights with the help of Irish Family Planning Association (IFPA) and British Pregnancy Advisory Service. They say these laws breach

several articles of the European convention on human rights, which is policed by the court, notably the rights to life and to privacy and family life, as well as bans on inhuman and degrading treatment and on discrimination.

Of course, the opponents say that right to life includes life of the unborn child and that this right in enshrined in the Irish constitution. “Broad Irish support for the abortion ban had been tested in three referendums and was strongly embedded in the moral fabric of Irish society”.

With more than 138,000 Irish women travelling abroad for abortions since 1980 I think it’s safe to say that the “moral fabric of Irish society” is changing. Taking into account how many more women would have had abortions if it had been an option for them, this number would be greatly increased.

“Today is a hugely significant day for reproductive rights in Ireland. The fact that Ireland’s draconian laws on abortion have been put under the spotlight is a landmark for women living in Ireland,” said the IFPA. “Ireland’s restrictive laws on abortion are totally out of step with those of its European neighbours … Women and girls do not give up their human rights when they become pregnant.”

Patricia Lohr, medical director of the BPAS, said: “There is never any moral justification for the law to place a barrier between women and medical care. The Irish abortion ban risks women’s physical health, requires abortions to be performed later than necessary, and creates serious emotional upset.”

I hope this motion is successful. There is absolutely no excuse for the way Irish women are being treated. They have been humiliated, traumatised, stigmatised, had their health put at risk, and had to spend a lot of money completely unnecessarily and all for the sake of Catholic tradition. It’s time Ireland caught up with the 21st century.