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Today the European Court of Human Rights (not an EU body!) handed down its judgement on the case of ABC v Ireland on the issue of provision of Abortion in Ireland.
As kind of expected the court declared A and B inadmissible as
the existing prohibition on abortion in Ireland struck a fair balance between the right of the first and second applicants to respect of their private lives and the rights invoked on behalf of the unborn.
They also stated that
prohibition in Ireland on abortion for health or well-being reasons was based on the profound moral values of the Irish people in respect of the right to life of the unborn
So the court did take this into account.
The difference in the case of C was that the life of the mother was under threat due to the cancer she was suffering from. As the Irish Constitution allows an abortion in this case, the court ruled
that neither the medical consultation nor litigation options, relied on by the Irish Government, constituted effective and accessible procedures which allowed the third applicant to establish her right to a lawful abortion in Ireland. Moreover, there was no explanation why the existing constitutional right had not been implemented to date.
This is an issue that has been dodged by successive governments since the eight amendment was passed. This will now force the Goverment to amend the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 which has had the “chilling” effect on any sort of abortion service in Ireland.
It is interesting as well to see the groups who intervened in this case.
- the Lithuanian Government (one of the applicants being Lithuanian);
- the European Centre for Law and Justice in association with Kathy Sinnott (Member of the European Parliament);
- the Family Research Council (Washington D.C.)
- Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (London); the
- Pro-Life Campaign;
- Doctors for Choice (Ireland)
- British Pregnancy Advisory Service;
- Center for Reproductive Rights
- International Reproductive and Sexual Health Law Programme.
This case has been welcomed by Pro-Choice activist and condemned by Pro-Life activists, which is strange considering all the judgement is doing is telling us to enact our own constitution!
So will we finally get our abortion act?
Full Judgement and ECHR Press Release (PDF’s)
Related articles
- Ireland abortion case condemned (bbc.co.uk)
- European Court Rules Woman’s Human Rights Were Violated in Being Denied Abortion in Ireland (jonathanturley.org)
- “Ireland must enact an abortion law” orders the European Court of Human Rights (sluggerotoole.com)
Technically the Court only declared part of the applications of A and B inadmissible:
“2. Declares unanimously the applicants’ complaints concerning abortion laws in Ireland under Articles 8, 13 and 14 admissible;
3. Declares by a majority the remainder of the application inadmissible;”
But brian, point 3 which you quote contradicts your first sentence. They declared A and B inadmissible for the reasons stated in the post!
They declared *the remainder* of the application inadmissable. The applicants made complaints under Articles 2 and 3 (which were ruled as inadmissable) as well as Articles 8, 13 and 14 (which were ruled admissible).
I’ll bet the folks over at Youth Defence were beating their walking sticks and snapping their rosary beads in despair at this ruling! Ah…. Angry Catholics zealots make me smile 🙂
expect people to be handing out those cards with the dead babies on them. 🙁
Hi,
Just wondering if anyone knows where I can access the actual judgement from? I’ve looked for so long and am yet to come across it.
Thanks, Ella
… just saw the link!