Woman to sue State after aborting twin foetuses

Seán McCárthaigh

The hearing before the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg next month appears certain to reignite public debate about the State’s controversial abortion ban.

It comes just weeks after the Irish Family Planning Association (IFPA) confirmed that three other Irish women are taking a separate case against the Government over Ireland’s failure to legislate for abortion.

The woman, known only as D for confidentiality, became pregnant in late 2001 with twins. In early 2002, tests showed that one foetus had stopped developing at eight weeks and the second foetus had a fatal chromosomal abnormality.

The woman decided she could not carry the pregnancy to term and travelled to Britain for an abortion.

She told her family doctor and local hospital that she had a miscarriage when, as a result of the abortion, she required further medical treatment.

The woman secretly brought the foetus back to Ireland in a small coffin for burial.

D is claiming that Ireland is in breach of six articles of the European Convention on Human Rights over its failure to provide abortion services for women who experience a fatal foetal abnormality.

She maintains that the devastating impact of the diagnosis was unnecessarily exacerbated by the legal restrictions on the provision of information and referrals by her specialist. The woman also complained that she had suffered unnecessarily by the fact that she had to travel abroad for a therapeutic abortion.

She claims the failure in Irish law to provide for abortion meant the Government had not ensured that she was not subjected to “inhuman and degrading” treatment under Article 3 of the Convention.

However, the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children yesterday called on the French-based court to respect the right to life of the child in the womb.

SPUC was granted late permission by the court to make a submission setting out the rights of the unborn in international law. The anti-abortion group has argued that there is no human right to abortion.

A SPUC spokesperson pointed out that the European Court of Human Rights has already recognised that the embryo belonged to the human race.

The case is due to be heard on September 6.

Last month, IFPA chairwoman Catherine Forde accused successive governments of failing to deal with abortion “in a realistic and rational way”.

The IFPA demanded an end to the hypocrisy whereby more than 6,000 Irish women travel abroad each year for abortions.