Ireland's longstanding abortion legislation could change due to a ruling expected to be handed down by the European Court of Human Rights next week.
When two Irish women and one Lithuanian woman who were forced to travel to Britain for abortions they took the action against the Irish state five years ago.
The three women, who were supported by the Irish Family Planning Association, claimed the inability to have an abortion in Ireland breached their rights under the European Convention on Human Rights, which Ireland originally signed up to in the 1960's.
The three women claimed that the limited abortion law in Ireland means they are being discriminated against, and that the state contravenes their rights under the convention. All three said they experienced medical complication when they returned to Ireland.
Their case was eventually heard last December in the court's Grand Chamber with 17 judges presiding and on Thursday they are expected to give their final judgment.
Currently abortion is only available in Ireland if the pregnancy threatens the life of the woman. It's estimated that about 5,000 women a year give an Irish address when they have abortions in Britain, but many more give British addresses. The Irish Family Planning Association believe that several hundred more Irish women also travel to the Netherlands and Spain for abortions.
The court is attached to the Council of Europe and has no relationship with the European Union. Any ruling the court makes will be legally binding on Ireland.
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Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.Trealach | May 25, 2011, 09:34 AM EDT
The European Court of Human Rights, can NOT impose legislation contrary to the Irish Constitution. The Right to Life is enshrined in our Constitution, BY the People - and not merely based on legislation. There is no such philosophy as 'pro-choice' - Abortion is Murder of a human life, irrespective of its gestation period. The time to "choose" is PRIOR to the sex act - after that is is a DECISION, not a 'choice'. The fact that a young girl becomes pregnant as a result of Rape or Incest, does not in itself justify creating a second Victim through abortion. Aborting a life, will NOT give ANY relief to the young girl, as evidence has shown time and time again. Indeed it will cause further mental difficulties in years to come - and this too is well evidenced. To stupidly suggest that this is an "Irish problem" clearly indicates the complete lack of 'personal responsibility', with an expectation, if not a demand, that the People should accept responsibility for the stupidity of that person's action. Such people would do well to keep both Mouth and Legs firmly closed.
londonirishtom | Dec 16, 2010, 12:31 PM EST
@bunchesofun. What’s to be proud about, thousands of Irish women make the choice every year; they head off to England and have an abortion, AS IS THEIR RIGHT. It’s not moral to impose your beliefs on others, as Irish history proves, and its hypocrisy to have another country sort out an Irish problem.
bunchesofun | Dec 15, 2010, 05:23 PM EST
Since when should there be a "choice" to kill a human being? I've long been proud of Ireland for sticking to it's morals and severely limiting abortions.
londonirishtom | Dec 14, 2010, 05:46 AM EST
Lets get real…the major flaw in the so-called ‘Pro Life’ argument is that it seeks to IMPOSE its moral values on others who do not share them. If you think it’s morally wrong to have an abortion…don’t have one, don’t let your wife or children have one, don’t fund the procedure. Recognise that other people have rights too, and they don’t all share your values. Don’t let religious or moral zealots make laws for everyone else to live by, support freedom of choice.
londonirishtom | Dec 13, 2010, 07:01 PM EST
When my daughter was a teenager, I always wondered how to handle a situation if she became pregnant, maybe manipulated by a child abusing adult. If she and her mum decided the best solution was an abortion, then I would want her to have one. Based on my rationale, I could not support denial of this option for other potential child-mothers. I am not pro-abortion, but I am not prepared to see young lives ruined, physically or mentally, on account of my personal beliefs, or anyone else’s. These decisions are, in my opinion, best left within families; who knows a child better than the parents?…and prohibiting this choice will only mean that the better connected will always get what they want, but what of the others? Abortion does not always make things easier, but neither does the alternative; you are free to choose the best solutions to your own problems, please permit others that freedom to choose without making criminals out of them.
Pittsburghkid | Dec 13, 2010, 06:25 PM EST
Migrate to America. The idiots have taken over Ireland. I know Americans can kill unborn babies, but things are going to change. The State Governments are being taken over by the Tea Party, which means Constitutional Admendments will be easy to pass. Sarah is going to be the next President, and America will return to its Pro-life roots, that made America great. Ireland will drift back to being ruled by a foriegn Power, this time it will be the EU, instead of the UK. I ask my grandfather, why his grandfather never returned to Ireland. He replied that their is no hope for the Irish. I did not understand him, but blogs like this explain his thinking.
sirpeter | Dec 13, 2010, 11:23 AM EST
jacersagain...well said..good post..Abortion,a disgusting practice.I always believe if there is a God and you have to be judged,you will be judged as an individual on how you treat all life.Killing for justice,killing for self defense and killing for freedom are all understandable and necessary at times as part of the human condition.But killing a poor baby that is waiting to be born...I can see no moral grounds for it what so ever...Except in self defense where there is a genuine chance the baby will end up killing the women. I beg the young women of the world..Don't do it..Have the baby..Give it away if you must.But don't kill it.There is a moral switch deep in your mind that knows you are doing a very bad thing deep down.You only do it out of fear which does not last.When that fear is gone,that switch will click on and you will spend the rest of your life trying to justify what you have done.For alot of women they will wake up sweating to the feeling of their ripped apart little baby.That is not been dramatic.Soldiers..whose governments spend millions to prepare them mentally for war and the horrors of what war is.They can never really cap that switch long term.They are all changed men deep in their hearts even though they put on a brave face outside,but they too wake up sweating alone,unable to even speak to their wife's about their own..so very personnel pain and the brutality they participated in.Abortion.. women's very own Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
Lorcan1916 | Dec 13, 2010, 02:50 AM EST
Abortion in the case of rape or extreme deformity is understandable and even acceptable in my book but for those of you ladies who abort just because you dont feel like having a child or you forgot to take the pill is totally unexceptable to me . How thick in the brain are you to open yer legs knowing that there is a chance you may get pregnant and want to murder a child with abortion ? Makes no sense to me at all .
jacersagain | Dec 12, 2010, 03:24 PM EST
As man, may I say that this is the kind of article that breaks my heart? I have listened to so many heart-rending stories told by women in their later years of an abortion or two that they had in their younger years. I would never wish the heart-rending that the older women who aborted their babies from their wombs, for whatever reasons, on any young woman and the voiced and un-voiced screaming conscience that I've listened to and witnessed that they have and what, by their own words, they’ll live with to their own lives’ dying breaths. Good people say “No to Drugs” because of the damage they do. Most older and wiser women who have had abortions would say to you “Say no to Abortion”. They’ve lived throughout their lives the mind-breaking madness brought on by the act of abortion, their experience of, and seeing, a living human foetal body forcibly extracted from their own human bodies; these older and wiser women all advise against abortion. The judges of the European Court of Human Rights should take note of the evidence of these womens' lives after abortion for aborting women opting to end a human's life before delivering any judgement. In other words, respect the Human Right to Life inside and outside of the womb, of which we, privileged to have been not aborted, are entitled to and appreciate, including those about to deliver a verdict.
WoundedKnee | Dec 12, 2010, 03:08 PM EST
Ah, the joys of Mass Immigration. A Lithuanian woman goes as a settler to Ireland, and then objects to Irish laws. Why the hell didn't this woman go back to Lithuania--there's an abortionist on every sreet there. What a damn cheek. I'd like to see this creep going to Saudi Arabia and getting laws changed there! Only the stupid Irish would tolerate it.
beachline | Dec 12, 2010, 12:15 PM EST
Amazing !!! It only took five years for the case to be heard in court. I wonder how much influence the Catholic church had in the delay. I hope the court rules in favor of the women.